The Holy Grail of marketing = your company as the only one people know

Why do most people call any adhesive strip, “Band-Aid”… over-the-counter pain pills, “Aspirin”… and in-line skates, “Rollerblades”?

Branding, of course. Those trademarked brands have become the generic name of that item, which may be the ultimate goal of marketing.

Generic names aren’t only for products. For example, nobody does Internet searches any more… they Google It (requires possession of a Googler). The name of the company has also become both a generic name and a verb.

Q: How did those products and firms become instantly identifiable generic names?

A: By appealing to customers’ emotions via their experiences.

Now you may be one of the few geniuses capable of generating emotional experiences by suspending the disbelief of audiences around the world… perhaps using a commercial showing impossibly attractive actors or happy animated creatures enjoying your technology solution… or by teaching the world to sing about it. I’m very happy for you if you can do that, and a little jealous.

Since most B2B technology doesn’t lend itself to 20-second television commercials, we use content marketing.

You might think that content marketing is about educating your customers… and it is, to a point. If you’re not careful however, educating customers can get expensive and deliver zero return.

An example of bad education is bragging about how good you are, such as the latest big contract or award you’ve received. Yawn.

Nobody cares about you. They care only about what you can do for them.

Instead of bragging, demonstrate how you solve a specific problem in a blog post, a short screencast video, and a quick webinar.

Do the same for every problem you solve. Keeping your educational messages short and to the point promotes the promise of feeling good to those who buy your solution.

Yes, feeling good about your technology.

Many business people believe feelings are to be stashed in their dresser drawers before heading to the office to play the role of emotionless automaton. Some of us believe that having feelings at work is unprofessional and therefore unacceptable.

Except humans cannot turn off our feelings.

As a B2B marketer, what kind of business-acceptable feelings can you tap into by showing a businessperson how you solve their problems?

Well, remember how you felt when your boss praised you for proposing the successful solution to a significant challenge?

Remember how you felt when your co-workers acknowledged your contribution to an important company win?

Those are merely two good feelings content marketing can generate about your technology in your customers. I’m sure you can think of more, and if not – use your Googler.

Content marketing done correctly can help you turn a feeling into a potent message to share with your customers.

When enough people associate good feelings with your product and service, then your brand is on its way to becoming the generic name of your industry.

Please share your opinion in the comment section of LinkedIn. Thank you

This post first appeared on Mercer-MacKay.com.