On June 28th 2009, Billy Mays', best known for his promotional work with the Home Shopping Network, lifeless body was found by his wife. There were no signs of foul play or a break in and it was determined that Mays had died from an apparent heart attack at some point during the night. Billy Mays was most notable for promoting the multi-cleaner, OxiClean, which was the first of many successful infomercials and campaigns. I am confident that the average television viewer can picture Billy Mays with his thick black beard, smiling face and intense enthusiasm. When he passed away a week before last, I often found myself referring to him as the "guy from the OxiClean commercials" as a way of describing who he was. It seemed to be that although most didn't know the name Billy Mays, they did know who the "OxiClean Guy" was. This seemingly simple idea inspired this article.
The more knowledge and interest I obtained about marketing, the clearer it became to me how many things I could learn just from watching a Billy Mays commercial. I believe he had two of the most significant concepts of a successful marketing campaign down to a science. He was able to both sell himself & sell the product. Because Mays was best known for promoting the all purpose cleaner, OxiClean, those particular commercials and infomercials are the ones that I will use throughout this article.
Think about this scenario for a moment. Your flipping through the channels on your television one night trying to find something to watch. It is after midnight on a Sunday so your choices are limited. For the sake of this particular scenario, you come across two different infomercials on two different channels, however, they are both selling the same product, which happens to be one you need. Which of the two would be likely to catch your interest. These are things that a successful marketing strategist takes into account when determining exactly what it is that needs to be done to ensure that both the product and the individual(s) promoting the product successfully.
One thing about Billy Mays was that he always showed a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in his commercials. His excitement seemed to be so authentic that it was contagious. He could actually persuade a consumer into trying and purchasing a product for no other reason than his animation and excitement. Mays had an inherent gift to reach out to his market and figuratively say, "Listen Folks! If I am this excited about this product, than you should be too." Even more amazing was, as consumers, we would not only believe his words but actually feel silly for not trying the product in which he was endorsing! Genius! This is a major reason why having the ability to sell yourself is just as important as the ability to sell your product.
Mays had many ways that made him successful at selling himself, the majority of which he would use subtle yet extremely effective body language. He was always very friendly, smiling and looking directly into the camera. Eye contact is so important, even through the television barriers. When a person is looking down at their feet or their eyes are wandering, that shows a lack of confidence and honesty. Needless to say, if the person endorsing a product looks unconfident and dishonest, chances are they will not be successful. Mays always made sure that his appearance was pleasing. I have actually heard people comment on his beard stating that it must be partially fake because there is no way in which it could grow so even and perfect. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant,, my point being that Billy Mays was always put together well, his clothes always neat and his shoes shined. Along with his physical appearance, Mays always spoke in a clear, articulate, confident and excited tone of voice. He also spoke of the products with vast knowledge. During his 30 minute infomercials, Billy Mays would usually take the time to take questions from the audience. That in itself has proven to be an effective way of including the consumer by answering their questions and such. The question period traditionally would come last incidentally leaving one more opportunity to sell yourself, assuming you have done your homework, know your product and are ready to answer any question that comes firing your way. Not surprisingly, Billy Mays always managed to sell himself along with the product, flawlessly during the question and answer end.
If you are able to sell yourself successfully than selling the actual product is as good as done.... Providing you have a great product. If the product doesn't live up to the person selling it, a consumer is more than likely going to end up feeling disappointed and will more than likely not spend their money on that product again. This is not a successful transaction for several reasons. First, it is not a win-win situation because both parties don't walk away from the transaction feeling satisfied. Therefore, you may have obtained their business once, but not only will you not likely again, you can bet that a dissatisfied customer, will not be sending any referrals your way. The products that Billy Mays would endorse, in my experiences, have all been good, reliable and affordable products that actually deliver what they say they will.
The recently deceased Billy Mays really, I believe, a legend in some right to the marketing community. He and his campaigns achieved an ultimate focal area of marketing that I had, and continue to have, seen. I wish I could finger point exactly what it is that made Billy Mays such a marketing genius. If I was able to do so, I would be a very rich woman. If I had to guess the secret to his success I would say this; Billy Mays had the art of self selling down to a science and was smart enough to utilize it in two ways. First, he knew how to use his self selling skills and enthusiasm to his advantage, which is very important. Second, he had a good sense as to which products were worth associating himself with. These two ideas, when combined, merges into one very powerful marketing idea. Consumers associate Billy Mays with a product that is trustworthy, reliable, inexpensive and most important consistently good. That is all a marketing strategist could possibly hope for, right?
