Pretty in Pink
Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 @ 08:50 PM
Filmmaker John Hughes wrote and produced some of the most successful films of the 1980's including Ferris Buhler's Day Off, several of the National Lampoon franchise and Home Alone. The story behind one of his most popular movies, Pretty in Pink, contains a valuable lesson for all B2B marketers.
Here's the story.
In the original ending of the movie, Molly Ringwald's character ends up with her eccentric best friend - a character named Duckie played by John Cryer - rather than the rich guy she was pursuing the entire movie. This ending made sense, sent the right message and ended the movie on a high note.
Unfortunately there was one problem. The test audiences for Pretty in Pink hated this ending. The film's producer was horrified. They thought the movie was perfect for their demographic. So they showed it to another test audience. Same results - the audience hated it.
The producer pulled her team together and after careful reflection decided to rewrite and reshoot the ending. When asked why the film's producer said:
"We decided we were making the movie for them - the audience."
What does this have to do with B2B marketing? Everything.
The starting point for all your marketing activities must be your audience. Who are you trying to engage, what is important to them, and how can you reach them. Too often we get caught up in the latest marketing technology or trend that we lose focus on the basics.
- It starts with your ideal prospect profile. What are the characteristics of the buyers who have the highest probability to buy from you?
- Then you need to truly understand and internalize their business challenges. What keeps them up at night?
- Finally, you need to create messaging and content relevant and aligned to their challenges - and then deliver it to them.
If you do this successfully, you will have an ending your audience and your sales team will like.
Sales Engine International is a Sales 2.0 Prospect Engagement and Marketing Campaign Execution Company. Clients come to us for inbound and outbound marketing strategies, tools and services that engage and move your prospect through the funnel, result in more qualified leads, and offer complete marketing spend transparency.