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Re-think your messaging -- BEFORE it costs you customers
http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/articles/18172/1/Re-think-your-messaging----BEFORE-it-costs-you-customers/Page1.html
Judy Kirkland, Echo Point Marketing Partners
As co-founder of EchoPoint Marketing Partners, Judy Kirkland creates systems and toolkits that empower businesses to make marketing far simpler and far more successful.  Drawing on an award-winning track record in B2B, B2C and B2G markets, Judy teaches clients how to develop an “echo point”  — their own unique value proposition and brand — to determine what to spend, what to say and what biggest-bang tactics to use in online, print, broadcast and face-to-face marketing.

Before co-founding EchoPoint Marketing Partners, Judy enjoyed more than twenty years of success as a nationally known marketing consultant and copywriter for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. In addition to her YodelPoint.com blog, she is a regular contributor to newsletters and ezines in the fields of franchise marketing, custom media, search marketing, and how to market small businesses and professional services firms.

 
By Judy Kirkland, Echo Point Marketing Partners
Published on 3/10/2009 - 3:30pm
 
Why Land Rover's "luxury" tagline is out of step with the times -- and why you need to fix your own out-of-touch messaging before you're out of customers.

What were they thinking??????  That’s what I want to ask the ad team who developed the new Land Rover ad I just heard on the radio. 

 

Now, last I checked, the price of a Land Rover lease was about $800 a month.  That’s pretty hefty, especially in today’s economy.  Hefty prices aren’t deal-breakers, as long as you include hefty evidence to justify them. 

 

But all Land Rover gives is this:

 

“Land Rover.  Where luxury is more than luxury.”

 

Huh?  “Luxury” alone is tough to sell these days.  Messages like this are wrong for the times and can make you seem out of touch. Worse, they can alienate potential customers. Even if you have a luxury brand, you still need to make the case for the value of your brand.  (Listen up, ad team: using specifics to support brand value is never in bad taste!)

 

In Land Rover’s case, they need to present some “evidence” like how the car is so well made it virtually never needs repairs.  Or that you’ll be able to drive it for hundreds of thousands of miles and it’s still going to make you look smart for buying it.  Maybe switch out that “more than luxury” tagline for something more like this: “Where luxury pays you back” or anything that justifies the price and allows us to view buying a Land Rover as a prudent decision in these uncertain times.

 

The bottom line is that we’ve all got to keep our brands aligned with changes in the marketplace.  In the last six months, both the marketplace — and the spirit of the times — have changed considerably. If you need to integrate fresh messaging into your website, marketing materials, and even sales talking points, this new whitepaper provides a good starting point:  "EchoPoints 2009: 10 Antidotes to Recession, Distrust and Disgust." To download the PDF, go to the EchoPoint Marketing Partners Resources page.