Almost Good: Marketing Efforts That Just Miss the Mark & Lessons To Master

As a branding expert, my occupational hazard is that I’m always watching, reading, and listening to see if messages resonate. Below are observations from the week.

Marketing Efforts That Just Miss the Mark

Warby Parker – I love this brand and it’s earned my respect with its superb in-store customer service, spot-on pricing, and easy-to-navigate website. HOWEVER, right after I ordered, I immediately got 2 emails with the same subject line: “nice seeing you.” The problem was that one was my receipt with tracking info and the other simply invited me to follow them on subject media.

Lesson: Sometimes a simple, “full-frontal” subject line is better than clever. “Thanks for ordering” would have worked better.

Halcyon Health Direct Primary Care – Do you know about this concept yet? You pay a membership fee for real access to your doctor including email and phone calls! You can see my sister’s site over here, but my issue is with this local group. I got an email with the attachment called “Onboarding.” I don’t want to be on-boarded, I want to be embraced. It should have been labeled “welcome packet.”

Lesson: Speak like your peeps; use user-friendly language, not what your industry calls it.

Not Your Mother’s – In case you missed, Not Your Mother’s hair care has hit the market joining Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, Not Your Average Joes, and the classic slogan: Not your father’s Buick. I’m tired of this message, aren’t you?

Lesson: Avoid a name or tagline that sounds clichéd or else you end up committing genericide.

What’s bugging you? What are you seeing that’s working or not? Please comment over at my blog.