Believe in the best

When it comes to the world of marketing being original is the ultimate goal. It’s vital for maximising a product’s potential and this means consistently being imaginative and creative in order to be fresh and relevant.

marketingInspiration can come from many different places: a conversation in the pub, a line heard in a song, a Eureka moment in the bath . . . and even from your past.

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After all, where better to stir your creative juices than among the best marketing campaigns history has ever dreamed up?

Some of these were so successful their slogans have now become part of our daily lives.

Just do it. Vorsprung durch technik. Think different. Be bold, be brave, be exceptional.

Even US presidential candidates have their famous anthems embedded in the global consciousness, such as Barak Obama’s “We can do it”.

When considered together, however, almost instantly a common theme emerges: everyone is a call to action.

Designed to get an immediate emotional response from the audience, this is the pivotal part of any marketing strategy – getting your listener, viewer, reader or browser to respond through doing something.

Boiled down, it’s simply an incredibly clever way of saying “Buy now!”

As you’d imagine, the most effective calls to action use a strong command verb that both intrigues and inspires.

The intrigue peaks the potential customer’s curiosity and leads them to look more into the product or service being marketed. The inspiration makes them feel this is a good, life-enhancing thing to be doing.

This means using words that provoke emotion and enthusiasm: if the call is enthusiastic and stirs emotions, your audience will be moved to enthusiasm too.

But let’s get back to the past to see this in action.

In a climate where big is seen as best, how do you market something that’s actually smaller than all of its rivals.

Ask Volkswagen. In the 1960s it came up with an ingenious print marketing campaign to sell its smaller cars. Its call to action was “Think small”.

This simple yet compelling phrase was further enhanced by being placed in advertising banners and newspaper ads that included acres of white space to highlight the compact feature of the brand’s vehicles.

This allowed Volkswagen to stand out from the crowd and it was quickly noticed for its ingenious honesty – its cars were indeed small but worth thinking about for that very reason.

The lesson is not only be truthful in marketing, but fully believe in your call to action.

So do you want to be bold, be brave, be exceptional? Then get on to s1jobs for the best career opportunities in Marketing/PR.