Gartner Inc.

11/30/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/30/2021 08:34

The Most Relevant Schoolhouse Rocks Episodes for Marketers

Last week, I shared a whimsical post on LinkedIn in response to some discussions with a number of sales experts. It was me rewriting the lyrics of the Schoolhouse Rock episode "I'm Just a Bill" to create "I'm Just a Lead."

Boom! My favorite episodes became an earworm that funneled through my brain for the next several days-and are back with a vengeance due to this post. I apologize (sort of) if that same thing happens to you. They may be a bit old and dated, but they are also useful and creative.

Photo by Jenna Richter from Pexels

In that experience, I realized that at least 3 of the episodes are highly relevant for tech marketers and sellers.

Three Is The Magic Number - Part of multiplication rock (and re-made as a rock song by Blind Melon on Schoolhouse Rock Rocks), the message is simple. Three is the magic number. Three sections, three ideas, etc. A while back, I shared some research that found that people struggled to remember more than 3 or 4 things. Overwhelming with long lists results in most of the items being forgotten (hopefully, they remember the list so they can go back and review it). Remember the magic number when creating content, presentations, plans, and more.

Interjections - Hooray! Another favorite. The interjections episode talked about how to convey emotions in words. The use of exclamation points that actually make sense (vs. gratuitous use in texts, emails, and more) is a highlight for me (Wow, I went there). And commas, "when the feeling's not as strong." I think there is an opportunity to use interjections on Web sites and in copy to call attention to key ideas and trigger emotional responses ("Whew! Finally an easier path to cloud migration"). Be careful here. Overuse would become annoying "Man! I wish they would drop this interjections"

Unpack Your Adjectives - This is the main one that has stuck in my head. The use of adjectives to be more descriptive is really important for marketers. Generalizations are a great way to limit effectiveness. All customers are not the same. Confident customers are different than Confused customers. The use of adjectives (or adjective like elements) is critical in things like ideal customer profiles to add more clarity and focus. Gartner Enterprise Technology Adoption profiles, while not adjectives (although we use adjectives in the nick names…Agile Leaders are different than Ambitious Leaders are different than Conflicted Laggards) add more clarity to the best fit for your business. I'd encourage you to "unpack your adjectives" to provide more clarity on customers, products, competitors and markets.

Those are the three episodes that stuck with me the most for marketers; I'm sure there are more.

And, if you want to test whether I walk the "Schoolhouse Rock" walk, come to my webinar tomorrow (December 1) at 11 eastern). I'll be talking about The New Chasm, using some adjectives, some sets of threes, and possibly a few interjections. You can register here. It is free (beyond a registration) for all-Gartner client or not.