Graham McGregor: The KISS Principle in marketing

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If you go to Wikipedia and look up the KISS principle you will see many definitions of what KISS could mean. From 'keep it simple stupid' to 'keep it short and simple'.

My favourite definition of KISS is 'keep it simple and sincere'. And I believe a lot of marketing works well if we use the same 'keep it simple and sincere' principle.

Let me give you a good example...

I had the pleasure last week of presenting a two hour seminar on marketing to several hundred business owners and managers in Christchurch. We covered 19 simple strategies that most businesses could use to increase sales, boost profits and create delighted clients.

Two days after the seminar I got a lovely email from a business owner who had been using a number of these same marketing ideas in his own business for close to 18 months.

Here is what he told me...

October 16, 2012

"G'day Graham, excellent to hear your ideas in person on Monday night. I've been a subscriber to your email newsletter for some time now, since the 10th of May 2011 to be exact, when I downloaded a copy of your "Unfair Advantage" report.

I've used some of your ideas and I am convinced that the ones I've tried have worked, and have helped me build my business up to a point where I am the highest grossing Franchisee for the system that I belong to in New Zealand.

The ideas that I have used in particular are, developing a reputation as the "go to" person for my line of business. I have also used your "a little bit extra" idea. The beauty of the ideas in your reports and news letters are their minimal cost, and the "bang for buck" is just exponential.

I've passed on links to your website and the reports to other Franchisees, and the ones that have followed some of your advice report that their experience is similar to mine, so thank you for helping me with the success that I am now enjoying. Thanks again, and best regards."

Steve Hodgson
Port Appliance Test & Tag Ltd

Steve is a good example of what can happen when you do marketing that is simple and sincere and you do it consistently.

Let's look quickly at two points Steve mentioned in his email to me.

To get a reputation at the 'go to' person in your industry is easy to do.

Just share helpful tips in either written or spoken format that potential clients for your business would find useful. This automatically positions you as the 'go to' person in your field.

I covered some ideas on how to do this in my Herald column on 'Make yourself an Expert'.

The little bit extra strategy is a simple way to get people remembering and recommending you.

I explained some ideas on how to use the 'little bit extra' marketing principle in my Herald column on Lagniappe Marketing.

I like to things simple in marketing.

I notice that most marketing is usually trying to get one or more of three possible outcomes.

1: You want to generate good numbers of qualified, interested prospects to talk to.

We call this lead generation.

2: You want to convert some of these people into happy paying clients.

We call this sales conversion.

3: You want to create repeat and referral sales. And we do this by creating raving fans for our business who tell many of the people they know why they should use our business.

There are dozens of simple things that will help you to get these three marketing outcomes.

And the principle of 'keep it simple and sincere' will definitely be useful as well.

"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself."
Albert Einstein

Action Exercise:
How could you use the KISS principle in your marketing to make it more effective?

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 27 countries.) You can email him at the link above.