Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been blabbing about road rage, audio books and Rob Lowe.
Well guest what? Here’s some more of that nonsense! (Enjoy)

Another Great Marketing Lesson From Rob Lowe

This week I’m going back to the Rob Lowe well to share another value marketing lessons I learned from Rob Lowe’s outstanding Autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.
For a book with absolutely nothing to do with marketing or business in general, it’s proven a treasure trove of knowledge and insight. (If you haven’t gleaned this tidbit already, I’m not so subtly suggesting to you SHOULD read this gem.)
Interestingly enough, the book doesn’t delve too deeply into acting, either. But Rob does reveal a few choice morsels about the acting process. And one in particular struck me as synonymous with the core tenet of effective marketing. Great acting is borne from identifying with your character. Great marketing results from identifying with your customer.

Wrenching Raw Emotion on the Set of the Outsiders

In one of the biography’s most engaging chapters, Rob describes filming the Outsiders with the revered Academy Award winning director, Francis Ford Coppola.
Rob’s filming his pivotal scene in the movie (a celebrated teen drama about poor kids in a bleak Tulsa, Oklahoma suburb). It’s dramatic confrontation between Lowe and his two brothers (played in the film by C. Thomas Howell and Patrick Swayze). Rob delivers a series of masterful takes, wringing out his emotions in one tearful soliloquy after another (think delivering the “Oscar Clip” again and again).

Tears Cried Too Soon

Turns out those were the wide shots. Rob had unwittingly spent his emotional capital filming takes in which his face was barely visible. Now it was time for his close ups (the “emotional money shot”).
Two takes into his close up, and it’s clear Rob’s inspiration has dried up. He’s on the verge of completely blowing his performance in the scene (his biggest of the movie).

Scene-Saving Grace

On the brink of disaster, Rob’s costar, C. Thomas Howell, takes him aside and delivers a come-to-Jesus-don’t-choke-now-this-is-your-moment speech. Howell’s words ignites a fresh spark in Rob, and he manages to rescue his performance.

What Makes Acting Really Great?

Reflecting on this moment in the biography, Lowe has shares a revelation about acting that defines the craft of acting. It also happens to illustrate core tenet of marketing.
Paraphrasing Rob… some describe acting as perfect lying. Pretending with perfect ease and zero affectation that you are someone else – the character you’re portraying. And then there is the school of method acting, in which you harnesses the emotion of particular event in your personal life. And use that emotion to drive your performance. But really great acting comes from identifying with a character and reflecting that connection.

Identifying With the Character

Lowe had never been a poor orphaned teen in a down-and-out Tulsa Oklahoma suburb (the backstory of the character he portrayed in The Outsiders).
But he does have brothers. And he understood the nature of that relationship. The bond between  brothers. In that moment, he asked himself two important questions. What he would do for his brothers? And what his brothers would do for him?
The answers to those questions reveal the raw emotion the scene was crying out for. Rob channeled that emotion into to his close up take and nailed it, clinching the scene.

Identifying With Your Customer

Rob’s approach to identifying with a character illustrates perfectly how your marketing should approach your customers.
Put yourself in their shoes…
What do they want?
What do the need?
And why should the get if from you?
Tailor your marketing to answer these questions, and it will be obvious to your prospects that you’re speaking directly to them. That you identify with who they are and what they want. Establish that kind of connection and buying from you is a foregone conclusion.

What About You?

Does your marketing speak to the needs of your clients and prospects? Are you answering their questions? Catering to their needs? Join the conversation and share your feelings at my Google+ page.