Small Business Marketing: Brilliant Lessons From The Movie, “What Women Want”

[Terry Kyle]

Small Business Marketing: Brilliant Lessons From The Movie, “What Women Want”

The other night I was watching a DVD of Mel Gibson’s 2000 film, “What Women Want”, an entertaining enough ‘rom-com’, and it really resonated with a couple of things that information marketing guru Eben Pagan talked about recently.

Now for those unfamiliar with the film’s plot, basically a sexist guy (Mel) working in advertising in Chicago kind of semi-electrocutes himself and suddenly has the power to hear what women are thinking. As a result, he can then use his marketing messages to directly ‘tap into’ the thoughts of women.

Now I worked for a long time as a creative director in advertising in the past on accounts like IBM, Pepsi, Cadbury’s and Kellogg’s, so I’ll skip over the irrelevant comparisons with real-life advertising agencies.

But what WAS fascinating in the movie and VERY valuable to us marketers were certain brilliantly clarifying lessons:

Firstly, the film reminds us that customers’ buying behaviour is largely driven by irrational fears, frustrations, hopes and volatile emotions.

Is your business marketing working on that emotional impact level?

Virtually all advertising appeals to emotion instead of logic because emotions are far more powerful in influencing behaviour.

However, the trick that the film showed brilliantly in the climactic Nike pitch scene was just how SPECIFIC we have to be in addressing the fears, frustrations and emotional impulses of our target markets.

In my view, the film is must-see marketing training for that reason alone. Watch that scene and the ad itself which Gibson’s character narrates to see how specifically he addresses EXACTLY ‘what women want’.

But, you ask, how can we find out what these (often hidden) emotions and irrational fears are?

In my humble opinion, we have to be in constant dialogue with individuals precisely in our target market and constantly inviting new research ‘guinea pigs’ in order to find more out about “What My Buyers Want” and no, it won’t be a new car.

It will be usually be a SPECIFIC, deeply EMOTIONAL need, want or desire.

As Eben Pagan rightly says, most non-essential purchases are driven by emotion THEN rationalized by the logical part of the brain later.

The science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein put it another way: “Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.”

People usually want to talk but you are looking for an especially frank, honest and blunt person who will tell you what’s REALLY going on with your target market. Though the marketing ‘inventor’ is unknown, Eben Pagan recommends building a whole composite ‘avatar’ with a whole life story of your typical customer or client mapped out.

Are you doing that with your marketing at the moment?

One conversation with a candid prospect could be worth a great deal of money to your business not only in what SPECIFIC marketing messages you are putting out, but also in NOT saying things that alienate or turn off your prospects.

It may sound a bit crazy - actually marketing is full of way crazier stuff than this - but IMAGINE what thoughts you would hear if you could overhear your prospects’ thoughts.

At their very psychological core, what common drives and specific thoughts exist among them?

Is it the desperate need for respect from their peers or superiority over them? A sense of power over their lives? The desire to be cool, accepted and popular? Even these are much too general and need a great deal more development on the SPECIFICS.

“What Women Want”. Check it out for a quick marketing refresher course.

[capforge]

[B]the film reminds us that customers’ buying behaviour is largely driven by irrational fears, frustrations, hopes and volatile emotions.

Uh, I think that blanket statement is quite a bit wide of the mark. Sure, there are some product categories that fit that description, but not most. And the list is even smaller when you get away from consumer products and look at business sales. These are also not the things that drive long term success- they only bring short term interest.

For example- there may be some emotion and hope in the purchase of an iphone. You want to look cool and hope it will provide you with some status. But it also needs to work well and deliver value, or it won't stay cool or maintain its buzz for long.

Overall, though, the above quote doesn't apply. Test it- pull out your last credit card statement or bank statement and see how many of your purchases in the last month you made because of irrational fear, hope, frustration or emotion? Not many. Maybe none.

[Terry Kyle]

Valid points CF but how would a person actually ever become a customer if the company failed to attract the short-term interest of a prospect in a VERY cluttered, ad-saturated marketplace?

And don't customers take value and 'working well' for granted now (even if it isn't delivered universally)?

I take your point but I am focusing on the initial moment of 'attraction', if you like, between business and prospect.

Back to the main issue:

Does a BMW, Audi, Porsche or Hilton Hotel appeal logically? How about Starbucks instead of Cafe Nero? Beatles or Elvis? Buying life insurance to protect a wife and children from financial struggles? Does a loan officer at a bank strive to be #1 in the firm because it is a logical step? What's the coolest bank in America for under-30s? Is the iPhone actually a good phone? I honestly don't know, I've never used one.

CF my point is that you can build a business with quality products that work well and offer value but you must ALSO attract customers to find that out in the first place and those features above are essential but also treated with skepticism by consumers.

Undoubtedly, cost factors come into the equation in many B2B decisions e.g. computer server purchase but many big corporate decisions are driven by vanity, hubris and other emotional factors affecting the decision makers. I once recall a client of ours, a huge huge brand blowing $40 million a year on a music act that was completely the opposite of the brand image and where the company constantly stated that they were desperate to get to in the market. Why? Complex politics and individual decision makers at the top.

In Jay Conrad Levinson's 'Guerrilla Marketing' work, he talks about 'moments of truth' when prospects interact with a company and gain business - are these simply rational?

If you've seen YouTube videos of Steve Ballmer at Microsoft seminars, there isn't too much rationality there!

'Irrational' may seem like too heavy a word but let's say 'emotional' instead and yes, I can find several emotional purchases on last month's credit card statement.

Many thanks for engaging CF and I love debating this stuff. Kudos to you.