Marketing Tip #91: Specific numbers are (often) more memorable than round numbers

This is for the 97.6 percent* of you who know someone taking multiple medications daily. As an experiment, ask your parent, grandparent, uncle or aunt, or friend to name the milligrams of each pill he or she takes. Chances are, they won’t remember 20 mg, 40 mg, etc. but they’ll remember that low-dose aspirin is 81 mg.

Why is that? Well, specific numbers are often more memorable than whole or rounded numbers: 81 mg stands out in a world of 30 and 40 mg. The marketing tip is that remembering a detail like 81 mg means people remember the product. And name recognition increases product sales.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t a scientific, research-based reason for 81 mg. There is. But what that does is actually INCREASE the memorable quality of the number “81.” It imparts a (justified) scientific or technical aura to the product. That’s good. Our unconscious brain says, unconsciously, “hey, there’s something to this 81 number. I’m going to remember this.” In a world of bland 20s, 40s, 60s, and rounded zeros, 81 stands out.

The little secret is that, even if a person doesn’t take low-dose aspirin regularly, people tend to remember “81 mg” if they’ve EVER taken low-dose aspirin. That’s fairly remarkable when you think about it.

A classic marketing example of this specificity principle is Ivory Soap’s famous slogan, “99 and 44/100ths percent pure.” Much more effective than “100% pure.” Greater believability. More memorable.

Sometimes big, rounded numbers with lots of zeroes are important and impressive in marketing. They fairly pound their rounded chests and scream “look at me” and all my 00000s. But specific numbers with science behind them can be much more memorable in the minds of prospective clients, guests, customers, or learners.

*Full disclosure: “97.6 percent” was made up for purposes of gentle humor and the theme of this post. If you happen to know the actual percentage of how many people take multiple medications daily, then judge away and godspeed.

Marketing Tip #55: First: Responders

Every died-in-the-wool marketing person LOVES the gimmicks-and-stunts side of marketing. That’s where the creativity is. That’s where the fun is.

But every died-in-the-wool marketing person also knows: first things first. Crafting a response comes way, way before gimmicks and stunts. Preparation is key. Work comes before fun. (Although that “work” is fun, too.)

Too many bosses want to give something away free, launch a marketing campaign, create a new promotional publication, host a special event, distribute giveaways with no forethought. Those are good things. Heck, marketing folk want to do those, too. Are you kidding?

But what if? What if everything goes perfectly, just what you want, just how you planned? And people respond the way you hoped? They’re excited. They show up. They log in. They call. They view. They tell their friends. They want more. What then?

Well, you’d better have a response already prepared, approved, ready to launch, mail, tweet, email, deliver, something.

Marketing Tip #21: Be Opaque, Not (Always) Transparent

Business and cultural trends tend to skew all-or-nothing. They emerge and quickly become some immutable law. If we’re not “transparent,” our peers shun us. Curs nip at our heels. Our profile nosedives on Match.com. Small mammals run from our shadow.

Transparency, a very good thing overall, is no exception. Lots of people end up believing that “all things should be transparent all the time.” Excuse the language, but: Balderdash. Poppycock.

Transparency in marketing can be the worst possible thing you can do. If you’re going to roll out a new marketing theme, campaign, event, product, or website, letting everyone know the details ahead of time ruins the surprise. Where’s the delight? The anticipation? The thrill?

Didn’t these transparency-all-the-time folks ever sneak a peek in the attic before Christmas? Did they never experience a “surprise party” when the guest of honor wasn’t surprised? Did they never hear the term Party Pooper? Do they have something against customers, clients, and learners experiencing serendipity? Have they never heard of Apple?

If you know how the trick is done ahead of time, there’s no magic.

Marketing Tip #18: Consider learning (reading, listening, experiencing) levels

When you deliver a program or presentation — doesn’t matter whether in person or by distance ed — how do you know that the material you’ve prepared fits the level the learners are “at”? How do you know you’re not over their heads or presenting material they already know?

Isn’t it amazing, when you think about it, that we just walk into a room and begin presenting or teaching with no real clue as to where the learners, clients, customers, or colleagues are in terms of their knowledge of the subject?

Tip: It seems self-evident, but consider learners’ (readers’, listeners’, experiencers’) levels. How?

• Ask them. Informally, Ahead of time. Do an informal sample. Conduct an online poll first thing.
• Share a faux, fun (!), brief, “pop quiz” (not-to-be-graded).
• Conduct a simple survey right off the bat.
• Observe body language and behavior.
• Chat with people before a class.

The idea is to be learner-centered, not presenter-centered. And to make an effort to determine the groups’ understanding — not just at the end, but at the beginning.

Start with where your learners are at and go from there.

Marketing Tip #91: Be careful using what seems (at first blush) to be “marketing-friendly” research

Merriam-Webster, the dictionary folks, once conducted a survey of people’s “Top Ten Favorite Words.” The winners, please:

• Defenestration
• Serendipity
• Onomatopoeia
• Discombobulate
• Plethora
• Callipygian
• Juxtapose
• Persnickety
• Kerfluffle
• Flibbertigibbet

Great words! Now, someone might look at this list and think, palindromatically, “Aha. The top ten favorite words. These would be perfect to use for my presentation title, white paper, website, blog, overall marketing.” One might think that but (with the possible exception of “serendipity”) one would be wrong.

These are the top ten most favorite words, not the top ten most effective marketing words. Two different things.

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a pop music group chose their name from a list of “the most warm and fuzzy words” in English. The name: “Bubble Puppy.” Now, please name the plethora of hits by Bubble Puppy. Thought so. Are we being persnickety? Don’t get in a kerfluffle.

Marketing Tip #44: Whimsy and fun are marketing’s secret weapon.

It has come to this, folks: We have officially reached some kind of Bizarro World threshold where we now have to convince (as in “prove to”) bosses and bean-counters that whimsy and fun are good things; that is, that whimsy and fun are effective marketing strategies.

One is reminded of H.L. Mencken’s famous dictum: some people suffer from the “… terrible, pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun.” This is the destination we reach when Irony has held sway for too long.

This fear of fun and wariness of whimsy is — let me put this gently — idiotic. It is, of course, a giant Rorschach inkblot into the psyche of bosses and bean counters. Marketing, remember, isn’t about the bosses and bean counters. It’s about our customers, clients, guests, learners.

It should be obvious that some of the greatest marketing (and best literature — Shakespeare anyone?) uses humor or whimsy to get a message across. Creativity, fun, and whimsy are great ways to share our stories.

Once upon a time, bosses just knew this. They knew that people reward fun and whimsy when done creatively and appropriately. We ignore this at our peril.