Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

In working with clients on their marketing messages, I sometimes hear, “But, [arms folded, brow lowered] I don’t want it to be ‘cute.’” This always comes from the men. Of course, this is also the same gender where one can be best friends with another guy for 20 years and never know his wife’s name. (“Whoa, dude! Too personal!”)

Now, I love men and viva la difference in thinking and - ahem - anatomy. However, being personable isn’t the same as getting too personal or “cute.” I don’t expect my clients to think or write as I do on this blog or for my own marketing. But, the only thing your competitors can’t ultimately duplicate is your personality.

I suspect that this macho fear of “cute” is why we keep seeing boring “innovative world-class solutions” and “leading supplier” marketing speak all over the place - even when people know better, or should, since many of them have paid people like Doc Searls, Seth Godin and Tom Peters to help them break out of the box. (You guys do notice that these are all fellow guys?)

Real-world example: The founder and CEO of Salesforce.com, Mark Benioff, talks a good game of marketing arson. Here’s a snippet from a recent Forbes interview, “I Know Marketing.”

Benioff: Always pitch the bigger picture. Salesforce.com was about “the end of software,” not customer relationship management software or software as a service. Reporters are writers. They like to write stories with a protagonist, a villain and a plot.

That’s great advice. Then you visit the company’s web site. Guess the story is over and Mr. Benioff misplaced his matches.

From the site: Salesforce.com is “The Leader in On-Demand Customer Relationship Management” and “Salesforce.com delivers more than just a powerful, easy-to-use customer relationship management (CRM) product. We offer a complete architecture that empowers every business to experience the benefits of on-demand throughout its entire organization.”

Doesn’t that get you all hot and bothered? Doncha want to plunk down some serious change? No? Well, it certainly isn’t “cute.” So, what’s your problem?

The Salesforce.com web site product demo is also absolutely terrible. I recently sat suffered through a client meeting where the gathered group tried valiantly to walk through the demo. They were totally perplexed. So, they called the company (twice) to ask questions. (They’re primed to buy and need it yesterday.) I’ll be posting more about this, but here’s one big “groan” for you. When my client did manage to get to a live person, she was very polite and forwarded them on to someone who could help. That went straight to voice mail saying, “I’m out of of the office, so please visit our web site at www.salesforce.com or call (the original phone number.)” My client left a message. And, the potential sale is delayed at least a week since the key decision makers are now out of the office.

Perhaps we should all pitch in and send Mr. Benioff a gross of Diamond’s finest. I’d start the fire with that web site copy. Then I’d move right along to those product demos.

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Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, Salesforce.com