Common Sense: Marketing’s Best Friend

There was a riverfront real estate development in Argentina with a multi-million dollar marketing budget. Although the development was home to impressive offices, apartments, shops, restaurants and a hotel, it struggled to gain any traction with locals or visitors.

The biggest problem was a lack of accessibility. It was a hassle to get there.

Instead of pushing a massive ad campaign, the development’s ad agency suggested building a bridge across the river. A footbridge that would make it easy for people to walk to the development.

But this wouldn’t be some run-of-the-mill bridge. This would be an architectural landmark. A major attraction that would generate tons of media coverage.

More coverage than any advertising would.

Why was this such a brilliant idea?

It offered a common sense solution to a simple problem.

To be clear, calling something “common sense” doesn’t imply that it’s easy. This particular idea is an example of creative thinking at its finest, and turning the bridge into a destination is an example of taking a great idea to the next level.

But at its core, this idea solved a very basic problem for both the development and its customers. It made it easier to get from point A to point B.

Marketing doesn’t have to win a Nobel Prize. It just has to solve a problem.

Like Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

Unfortunately, too many marketers and business owners are obsessed with being clever and thinking outside the box. They spend so much time trying to come up with the next big idea that they forget about what their audience really wants and needs.

More often than not, the best idea and the best message for your content can be found inside the box, firmly rooted in common sense.

This applies to all marketing principles, especially from a content standpoint.

Creating interest in a product by showing how it can solve a problem or make someone’s life better. Speaking the language of your target audience.

Being clear and transparent. Building trust and credibility. Helping and educating instead of selling aggressively.

Doesn’t common sense tell you that these are all good things?

Yet for some reason, common sense seems to elude most marketing content.

If you’re worried that your marketing content will be boring, stale and unoriginal, just remember that common sense is far less common than you think. You’ll definitely be in the minority.

But common sense can do more than help you stand out. It can help you take a stand.

A common sense argument is much more difficult to refute than a data driven argument.

Data can be based on inaccurate assumptions. Data gathering techniques can be flawed. The motivation of the data gatherers can be called into question.

Suppose one person makes an argument based on statistics and data produced by a research firm that was commissioned by a big company.

Another person makes an argument that isn’t necessarily backed up by hard data, but it seems like an open-and-shut case. It just makes sense.

Which argument are you more likely to believe?

Common sense is marketing’s best friend because it’s believable and it feels right.

As you develop or fine tune your marketing strategy and content, take a look at it from a common sense perspective.

What will make sense and feel right for your customers?

And if you have a store that’s struggling to gain foot traffic, you don’t need a multi-million dollar budget or fancy bridge.

Maybe you just need a better sign in front of your store.

The story about the bridge to the Argentinian real estate development was taken from a brilliant book I read several  years ago, “Leap: A Revolution in Creative Business Strategy”  by Bob Schmetterer.