This failure comes far, far, far too often.

I always try to repeat to myself the phrase “How would I react if I received this communication/campaign/offer?”.

Yet so often, marketing activity is ill-conceived because it’s in a bubble.

Sometimes it’s a bubble of enthusiasm from people who have got so wrapped up in their clever idea that they’ve forgotten to think about the basics of the product.

Sometimes it’s a bubble of blindness of people who have become so into their products they’ve forgotten what’s truly of interest to the outside world.

Sometimes it’s a bubble of arrogance from senior people who insist on a patronising marketing brief because in truth they regard customers as lesser than themselves, not as clever as they are.

And sometimes it’s a bubble of incompetence from commercial managers who have never composed a compelling (or grammatical) sentence in their lives, yet think marketing is something they could do standing on their head if only they had a little spare time on their hands!

The answer, for effective campaigns, is to stand in the customers shoes.

The customer is not a fool… they’re just like us.

Clear communications are compelling… simplistic ones are not.

‘Driving’ customer actions rarely works… offering a range of really attractive options often does.

In short, if you wouldn’t get it, neither will they.

If you wouldn’t be convinced, neither would they.

If you wouldn’t buy it, neither will they.

So many marketers need to stop believing their own propaganda.

They need to start ‘being’ the customer.

The marketers I admire do just that… and it usually works.