Brian also gives some great resources for research like Hillsearch toward the end of the podcast. I’ve checked it out and it looks like a marketer’s goldmine of information.

Thanks Brian. You’re an actor and didn’t know it.

An actor looks for events in the scene he/she is playing. Events are changes. Could be a revelation of knowledge, a burst of anger because of careless words, or a number of other elements.

I was directing two actresses this week in a training exercise. The scene began with one sitting on the couch for a moment before the second actress enters the room. The first actress sat fairly still until several moments after the other (playing her sister) had entered the room. I asked them to run the scene again. This time I asked the first actress to change her body position as soon as she realizes her sister is in the room. It worked much better. Her reaction doesn’t just add to the believability of the scene, it draws the audience’s attention to the event… the change.

Do you look for events as you market? Do you pay attention to the changes that precipitate customers buying from you? If you sell office furniture then you should be looking at moves, expansions, remodeling projects, new business starts, etc. Do you get information from the city’s building permits department? Maybe you should partner with moving companies, telephone system vendors, electricians, building contractors, and/or banks to cooperatively market together. Do you draw your “audience’s” attention to these events? Do you notify them that they need you when they move, expand, remodel, or start a business? If you attach yourself to the event strongly enough, then the event becomes your lead generator.

Events are changes. As Seth Godin notes, we pay attention to changes. So, if you want people to pay attention to you, pay attention to events.

Inside was a fortune cookie with the URL “whatsmyfortune.com” imprinted on its slip of paper.

No salesheet.

No business card.

No fancy graphics (yikes! designers).

How mysterious.

By the time you go to the website, you’re committed to find out the rest of the story.

Relationship

In his book Audition, Michael Shurtleff gives twelve guideposts for actors to follow in order to “get the part.” The first guidepost mentioned is relationship. Shurtleff stresses the importance of understanding your character’s relationship with the other characters in the scene. He encourages actors to ask themselves “feeling questions” about their emotional attitude toward other characters. Do you love him? Do you hate him? Do you resent him? How much? Do you want to help him? Do you want something from him? He emphasizes that these are the most important questions you can ask. They will allow you to function in the scene.

Do you ask these questions about your company/service/products? Do you understand your relationship with your target market? Do they love you? Do you love them? Shurtleff urges actors to “always say yes to the question of love.” Without love there is no attraction. Without attraction, what keeps the characters on the stage? Similarly, Saatchi & Saatchi promotes the idea of Lovemarks as relationship.

Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.

Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go.

Do customers love your company/product/service? If you can’t answer “yes” to that question, then your brand is in trouble. What do they want from you? What do you want from them? (greater than their money, you’d probably want their undying loyalty) What is the attraction? Maybe love is there, but it’s not obvious. In a scene where love seems absent, Shurtleff recommends considering all the various distorted and perverse forms of love. As a parent scolds a child, their love may seem absent but it may be found in concern for the child’s safety. Find your customer’s love for your product, even if it is slightly misguided.

Relationship is also valuable in understanding your placement in the market. What is your relationship with competition? Higher quality, lower price, friendlier customer support? How does your target market feel about your competition? If they have a great relationship, that makes your job harder.

Many of these questions can be answered with a little bit of customer research. Create some simple spreadsheets with these questions. Ask your customers and fill in their answers. Pay attention to patterns, because that’s probably where the truth probably lies. Look at relationship issues and find ways to address those issues. Maybe you’ll need a counselor (marketing / branding consultant) to help with this. Or maybe it is common sense after you take the time to step back and evaluate.

These could be the most important questions you ever ask. The answers will help you to function (and hopefully thrive) in business.

Dustin Staiger

Ever feel theatrical as you conceptualize a 4×6 postcard? Like the Denzel of direct mail or the Kidman of campaigns? Maybe you should because, whether you know it or not, you’re using some of the very same principals for your marketing as Hollywood uses in acting. That may sound silly to you, but why wouldn’t that be the case? Yes, Hollywood is primarily entertainment, but most T.V. episodes and movies can boil down to a message to an audience. Heaven forbid that we actually entertain our target “AUDIENCE” as we communicate our marketing message to them.

The main difference between marketing professionals and the entertainment industry is our entertainment has to boil down to a message more clearly and quickly. Today’s studios seem to concentrate on entertaining through special effects, humor, drama, stories, and plots. Meanwhile the message can often times seems secondary. Honestly though, some of the best movies contain a very strong message. They just don’t spoon-feed it to the audience. I wouldn’t recommend spoon-feeding in marketing either. Our message should be number one, but we cannot forget to entertain in order for our message to penetrate. A definition Webster gives for entertain is to keep, hold, or maintain in the mind. To receive and take into consideration. Fail to entertain your prospects, and they may refuse to entertain your offer.

We’ve seen quite a blend of advertising and marketing with entertainment over the years. Commercials have become quite entertaining. Many people proclaim they are more interested in the commercials than the Super Bowl each year. The problem with entertaining advertising is it’s not always effective. But, some very crafty advertisers have blended themselves into the entertainment itself. Sears has cleverly attached itself with the hit TV series, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They “donate” their appliances, tools, electronics, etc. to help turn people’s homes into dream houses. You can’t Tivo it out or dare to mute the ad, because it is part of the programming… part of the entertainment.

Hopefully now you can see the value of understanding a little about Hollywood’s processes in order to create powerful and persuasive marketing. So, how do learn from the entertainment industry? We need to look at areas in which they learn. Not everyone has the time, money, or availability to take acting classes in order to become a better marketer (I would still recommend it to many, though). There is a great book of advice to actors that really hits on the heart of the acting trade. Audition by Michael Shurtleff contains advice to help actors understand how to get the part they always wanted. Many consider it the actor’s Bible.

My previous post, Marketing Mystery, used one of Shurtleff’s guideposts – mystery and secret. I’ll be incorporating more of these guideposts in this series of articles “Don’t Act Like a Marketer, Market Like an Actor” over the next several weeks.

Dustin Staiger