It's all well and good telling your customers what you, your product or your service can do for them, but how can you prove it and make them care about it?

If you just rattle off a long list of all the features it might pique their interest, but what would happen if you actually showed them what you can do? This idea is demonstrated really well in The Guilt Trip (2012) with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen.

In the film, Seth's character Andy, is on a roadtrip to pitch his new environmentally-friendly cleaning product to different stores, and ends up taking his mum Joyce (Streisand) with him. She listens in on a couple of the pitches, and hears his waffling spiel about the product - it's full of scientific facts that don't really mean anything to anyone. Even the name 'ScieoClean' has investors confused.

During one particular pitch, he looks around the room and sees the audience is starting to yawn and scroll through their phones. So, he says, 

'I lost you guys. And I think I know why. It's because this sucks, and it's boring. And it's full of a bunch of sciencey stuff that no one really cares about. So why don't I try this.'

He then asks the presenter who he's demonstrating to, to tell him about herself, and whether she has any kids or pets. He's moving away from the scientific facts that are alienating the audience, so he can start connecting with them on a personal level. 

Once she replies, he says, 'If I had a daughter, I'd name her Mr Pickles too'. By using humour, he's making himself really friendly and relatable, so the barriers are definitely coming down. His pitch has gone from boring and confusing to enjoyable, entertaining and educational.

He then asks, 'Let me guess, you probably go to great lengths to stop Gabriella and Mr Pickles from dying?'

And follows this by pulling out a bottle of a generic cleaning product. 

'Is this what you normally clean your house with? It's whatever's on sale, it's usually blue or yellow. Here's the problem with that. It's extremely poisonous. Really dangerous. 

And I can tell you statistics that prove that my product doesn't only clean better than those, but it's safer. But if I've shown you one thing, it's that that's really boring. So instead, I'll just show you this.'

He then pours his cleaning product into a glass - and drinks it.

This bold move shocks the audience, making it something they won't forget in a hurry.

His finishing statement is:

'ScieoClean is the best cleaning product that's ever been invented. It's completely natural, it's completely safe and cleans better than any product on the market. If any of my competitors are making the same claim, all I say is, come on TV, and drink your product. But I don't think they will.'

By the end of the pitch, the audience is grinning, and he makes his first sale. 

So what are the marketing tips we can learn from Seth Rogen & Barbra Streisand? 

🧼 Don't bore your audience with statistics and figures that don't mean anything to them
🧼 Relate to them on a personal level (get specific)
🧼 Don't be afraid to use fear as a motivator (if it's appropriate)
🧼 Shock your audience to get their attention, and to make you stand out in their minds (if you say your product is safe enough to drink, then drink it!)
🧼 Show your audience, don't just tell them!