More and more companies are turning to Trial. Getting the consumer to experience, touch, feel, taste, smell the product or service. Why?

For one thing, the product performance is better…significantly better. Take a look around, massive improvements in the quality of products & services in every category across the board. The end benefits that the products deliver are remarkable. Consumers and retailers are demanding more and corporations have responded.

Secondly, the consumers respond. Nine out of ten consumers say they would purchase a good or service if they experienced it and were satisfied. Further, 6 out of 10 said that ‘if a brand wanted to convince me to buy its product or service, experiencing it first-hand would be the most effective way to get me to purchase’.

Lastly, in today’s society, having the ability to touch, taste, feel, talk…these are truly remarkable or worth remarking about to others. Technology has brought us so much, but it has also robbed us of authentic experiences. Cellphones, Blackberries, email, virtual tours and the like have isolated us from one another. We crave authentic experiences now more than ever. We are turning towards an AdverTRYING era.

The reality is that the use of the product itself has never been a tool that the most trusted partners of a brand have ever been given, namely the advertising and media agencies themselves. Product or service experience is often incorrectly assigned to the most junior person on the brand…only to have him or her rotate off after 12 months…to then have another junior manager come onto the business and kill what was done before…after all we all have to make our mark.

I have been in hundreds of meetings with trusted agency partners where the subject of utilizing the product itself comes up and I routinely hear, “That’s not us, but I would love to know more about what the client is doing…can you help us.” What? You are investing $100 million dollars of their money and developing the words and images that are the product, but yet you haven’t been given the most powerful tool in the chest…the product, the service itself? It’s like going to test drive a car without the keys.

AdverTRYING represents an opportunity for agencies to reclaim the one tool that they have not been given. Seize it and your clients will sing your praises.

One of the greatest challenges facing corporations today is deciding where to invest their marketing dollars at a time when there are more choices than ever.
In a quest to get the most out of their investment and be ahead of the proverbial curve, marketers and their agencies are searching for new ways to profitably persuade consumers to buy. In this quest, some have found the answer lies in the product itself.

With so many unproven new tools and the reexamination of traditional ones, a company must adopt a philosophy of adverTRYING.
What is averTRYING?

ad•vert [ad-vurt] – verb
1. To turn attention
2. To call attention to

try•ing [trahy-ing] – adjective
1. To taste, sample, or otherwise test in order to determine strength,
effect, worth, or desirability
2. Trial

advertTRYING is getting a scalable number of target consumers to experience the product or service in a measurable way that delivers a significant return on investment.

What avertTRYING is NOT
It is not product sampling. It is not event marketing.

Product sampling frequently will focus on the distribution of the product, not the trial or experience of the product. This is a significant difference because it is not uncommon for 60% of product samples to go untried.2

AdverTRYING is when you reach 1 million target consumers in a week with a nighttime analgesic placed on beds of resorts throughout the U.S. with a note that says, ‘We know how long you’ve waited for this vacation and we know how much you want to catch up on some sleep…enjoy.’ It’s reaching the consumers at a time of need, WHEN they are most receptive.

Event Marketing…I have asked no less than 100 senior marketing leaders to define what it is and not one of them gave me the same answer. That’s the problem. Event Marketing has become a catch all for sponsorship activation, stunts, someone handing out a razor in a crowded bar. In more cases than not the initiatives are not measurable or scalable. This is why so few are renewed.

Event Marketing is placing a ‘brand ambassador’ inside a retail store next to your display of appliances to hand out pamphlets to 50 consumers

AdverTRYING is allowing millions of consumers to try each of your appliances in a showroom setting. They can do a load of wash, bake cookies even hear a dishwasher run to see if the noise level meets their needs. Its Live Media…bringing the unique selling proposition to life.

AdAge editor, Jonah Bloom, who we’ve done a podcast interview with, recently published insight on what makes an agency go from good to great. The difference is in two key variables:

1) Influence product and service

2) Integrate data, media planning, and creativeness

Marketers can be an integral part of influencing a brand and help drive it’s success. Both variables come down to understanding the brand you represent, its target market, and being creative with the direction of the marketing plan.

Great agencies combine consumer research and creativity to make the perfect match for the brand. Before a marketer can suggest a plan, they have to understand where the consumers are, purchasing habits, and when is the optimal time to reach them.

Great marketing plans combine the science and creativity to make one killer recommendation.

If, Leadership = Influence..
And Barack Obama today will become the Leader of the world’s largest economy;

Then Barack Obama is THE greatest influencer of our time.

“Leadership = Influence, nothing more, nothing less” - John Maxwell
Maxwell is a pretty solid source and has conducted lots of research to isolate the traits of a leader. His research has uncovered that it boils down to influence.

Influence is THE mandatory trait to be a leader.
Obama is a leader, that is unquestionable. He is an influencer, that is unquestionable.

Who else is an influencer?

A marketer is an influencer influencing the masses to consider her way of thinking.
A salesperson is an influencer influencing one on one is even harder than influencing the masses.
A small business owner must be an influencer influencing others to his way of thinking.

So when looking at marketers, sales professionals, small business owners, & the new President of the United States, what do they have in common?

We are all influencers.
We may have different CAREERS.
But our PROFESSIONS are the same.
We are all INFLUENCERS and influence is a craft worth cultivating.

I was speaking with a marketing director managing a $500 Million dollar national brand this week and she said something that I had never heard before. I mean, I had no idea what she was talking about.

After she said it, I said, “umm, interesting.” Then I took a note and moved on.

When I landed back in NY, that night I did some research to figure out what she was talking about. I am now convinced that it is a SUPER valuable insight and further, I know why she achieves so many OUTCOMES. She more than most, does not confuse being busy with achieving outcomes and in the end, that’s what has gotten her promoted faster than just about other marketing executive I know. Continue reading…