Marketing – The Hook

The hook is the first thing you say about your company. It’s the first thing you put on your marketing message. The best hook is a company name that, sorry, HOOKS people. A hard-c sound – carrot, cucumber – is not bad advice.

Zeer-ROCKS. Klee-NECKS. These hard-c sounds affect us. It’s been tested. They are remembered. When your hook is sharp and specific, there’s nothing left for your audience to do but take the action you offer. One hook. One action. That’s the best a marketing message can cause.

Marketing messages are not advertisements. Advertisements can explain and persuade. They often make the sale. Marketing messages, on the other hand, don’t make the sale. They don’t close the deal. They inspire one action. They fit on billboards or the sides of a bus. They have one headline. It is visceral and compelling.

"Death of a Salesman" opened in the 1940s. Many people warned Arthur Miller, the playwright, that death would not sell in a title. But it did not keep people away. The power of the product did the work, obviously, compelling people to recommend the play to their friends, but the title now seems powerful and profound. In our hyper-hype culture, bottom line hooks are startling and refreshing. We trust candor. It can seem so rare.

Say it like it is. Then tell them what to do. Knee-JERK. (There’s that hard-c again.) That would be quite an effective marketing event. You knee. They jerk.

The best hook is someone’s name. You’re trying to hook some particular person, aren’t you? Or category of people. A specific word, idea, or question makes a great hook. "Where’s the beef?" Remember that cranky old grandma? The 80s weren’t that long ago. But we are more spread out now. We all don’t watch the same channels or networks. Companies used to be able to reach their markets. Now our markets search for us.

Which is why the best hook is a keyword that people are searching on the internet. The traffic is out there. We must not only stand in it. We must hold up a sign that they’re looking for.

"Just do it." You know the company. One simple phrase and, perhaps, some athlete doing something – doing one specific thing. If a picture is worth a thousand words, why not one picture with the fewest words possible? "Brevity is the soul of wit." In the loud avalanche of marketing messages, your specific and almost silent message is perhaps best heard. Think strategic. (Another hard-c.) What grabs your attention? On stage it is said "Less is more." Less from you gives room for more from them, your audience. More thought. More feeling. More response. More action.

And that, I assume, is what you want to cause with your marketing. So be clear and concise. Sharpen your hook and offer them only one action. Test and measure and improve. Adapt. Soon you’ll have a relationship with your customers. Remember to always hook them with every message. Good communication is a skill you can practice. You don’t have communication until you get a response.

Bruce Towers is president and co-founder of Freedom Builders, http://www.freedombuildersevents.com where business owners, entrepreneurs and salespeople learn powerful marketing strategies. Bruce co-authored the best-selling Wake Up And Live The Life You Love, Finding Your Life’s Passion, co-created 3 successful investment banking and corporate finance teams, and, as an actor, starred in a number of shows written and composed by Gordon Gano of The Violent Femmes.