5 Things Nobody Cares About

When it comes to marketing, sales and advertising, there is but one cardinal rule: nobody cares about you. It’s harsh, but it’s true. And yet, so many people forget it. If you’re working somewhere full-time, you spend so long drinking the organizational Kool-Aid that you lose your outside perspective. If so, here are a couple of things to that your customers don’t care about.

1. Your company’s anniversary: Your customers don’t care about when you did 25 years ago. They care about what you’re doing today.
2. New employees: It’s cool for the employees and their families, but customers want the best service, no matter who’s working there.
3. Awards your company has received: Awards can show your customers that you have a good product, but it’s still just someone’s opinion. Also, awards go out of date. Yeah, Pabst beer won a Blue Ribbon back in the 1800s, but what have they done lately?
4. Your rebranding: Graphic design geeks like me might care about your new branding guidelines, but it’s not something that affects most people’s buying decisions. (At least not consciously.)
5. Anything that serves the company and not the customer: This is the only rule that really matters. In business, any time you turn your focus too far inwards, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Sometimes, when you’re cooped up in the marketing office, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. You get too close to the subject matter, and suddenly things like anniversaries and rebranding seem like the most important things your company is doing. They’re not. The most important part of any company is sales. And while the marketing department drives sales, it does not move the company in and of itself. That’s why sometimes it helps to get the opinion of an outside consultant, as long as you don’t ignore the consultant’s recommendations.

What do you think? Are there any times where it’s important to remember that nobody cares about your brand? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.