I by no means claim to be a Marketing Expert. However, I have worked in the field for over ten years. And if those ten year of experience have taught me anything it’s this:
Comparisons Marketing is an alienation of the Brand You Should be building…
What do I mean by Comparison Marketing…? Well it’s quite simple really. It’s marketing yourself in a way that compares you to a product within the audience you are targeting.
Now don’t get me wrong. Comparison Marketing works so long as you aren’t the one marketing it that way. An endorsement from someone comparing you or your product to a similar individual or product is something entirely different. In fact that’s what you hope to achieve in some aspects of Endorsement Marketing.
But when someone seeks out to create an ad, tweet, FB Post personally Comparing their work to someone else- I want to shake my fist and scream at them!!!!
Recently I came across several different ads on Social Media by authors where the title was:
“As Good as Ted Dekker…?”
“As Good as the Wheel of Time…?”
“As Magical as Brandon Sanderson…?”
Every time I see these I have to resit the urge to message the person and say: “Stop!!! You’re doing it all wrong!!!”
In Marketing you want to find ways to be Remarkable, Unique, Different… Basically You want to be remembered. Not Compared.
I work in a Direct Marketing Firm. Every year we send out over 170 Million Pieces of Mail marketing our various forms of Life Insurance. Some will say:
“Now wait J.J. Direct Mail is like Junk mail. It’s almost like spam. You’re against the ‘Buy my book Spam post.”
You’re right. I don’t like the Buy my book tweets and Facebook post. I like engagement tweets and Facebook post. But what we do in our company is simple. Most Spam tweets, emails, post etc. along with junk mail have one purpose and one purpose only. Flood the masses.
But does flooding the masses work? Maybe at one time it did. But my philosophy is that it doesn’t anymore.
What we try to do in our company is go beyond the idea of hitting the mail box with an envelope. Our goal is to engage you enough, without deception or trickery, into opening the envelope.
My advice. In your marketing. Go beyond comparing yourself. Go beyond just creating a simple tweet. Be creative. Be you. Be engaging.
Then you’ll be remembered.
What about you? As a reader. What makes you want to stop and look at a tweet, Facebook Post, or Ad online…? What makes you want to engage with the writer? And possibly- Buy their book…?
Great stuff, J.J. While I have found comparisons very helpful in the past (especially when deciding whether or not to try an author I haven’t read before), you’re right: I discount the comparison if the author is making it themselves. And especially if it’s being touted as “as good as” or whatnot. I prefer things like, “If you enjoy Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs, you may like…”
Spot on about “flooding the masses”. Definitely not the most effective tactic anymore. People want engagement. They want relationships with interesting and entertaining people. It’s been getting over-used lately, but the advice to “be yourself” is really key.
Finding out that an author has similar interests to mine (shared fandoms, shared favorite authors, etc) definitely makes me more inclined to trust them, to think their fiction might be something I’d enjoy.