On every cruise,
there’s the mandatory safety drill.
A decade ago,
the safety drill consisted
of a long list of instructions.
Go to your cabin.
Get your life jacket.
Don’t wear your life jacket.
Look up your muster station.
Figure out how to get there.
Don’t use the elevators.
Line up in front of the life boats.
These were life or death instructions
yet folks got confused.
Some people were so confused,
they didn’t take any action,
deciding to stay in their cabins.
So now there is only one instruction.
Go to a stairwell.
At the stairwell,
a crew member asked to see
our cruise card.
He then told us to go to a certain floor.
When we reached that floor,
another crew member told us
which door to exit.
Outside the door,
a crew member told us
where to stand.
We were told only one simple instruction
at a time
and this was very effective.
Buying your product likely isn’t
a life or death action.
Why would you make your buying process
any more complicated?
“Action and reaction;
each element of your marketing,
executed well,
will generate one specific response.
Your business card,
your print pieces,
your sales letters,
and a web page,
will each motivate one reaction,
not a whole series of responses.
Make your marketing work
by setting a specific objective
for each element of your marketing.
Then determine the action you need
to take to reach that objective.”
Focus on driving only ONE action
with your marketing.