Marketing tools are available and used by the masses.
Millions are using social media platforms, posting pictures, creating threads, sending emails, and posting blog articles daily.
Business owners leverage these tools heavily – some with more success than others.
More often than not, people spend a lot of time using these tools.
They come up with the perfect flyer, the perfect image, the perfect article, and they send it out with hopes of getting a huge return.
Then, they wait.
And, they wait some more.
..And then some more.
Then, they get impatient.
“Why isn’t anyone calling in?”
“Why hasn’t anyone purchased yet?”
“Where are all the subscribers?!”
Frustration levels rise.
Anger sets in.
“Our marketing is failing!”
All that time creating content, with nothing to show for it in sales.
Then, they stop – thinking it’s a waste of time.
“Marketing is Like Sex: Everyone Thinks They’re Good at It”
– Steve Tobak
See, more often than not, there’s a lot of confusion around the subject of marketing.
Small technical aspects of marketing should never be mistaken for what marketing really is.
This is the most common error I’ve seen with both new and veteran business owners.
They put Tactics before Strategy – Technical work before Creative work.
And, because of that, they get frustrated and give up when they don’t see results.
It needs to be clear, there’s A LOT more to marketing than posting a picture on social media.
Anyone can create a tweet, send an email, or write a blog post.
Although it’s often confused for it, Marketing is NOT Advertising.
Marketing isn’t to be done at the end of a business – after the business is created and launched.
Marketing should be embedded into the foundation of a business.
Marketing is DATA DRIVEN. It’s identifying, predicting, and satisfying your ideal prospect’s needs and wants.
Marketing is NOT constantly interrupting your customers, creating hype, and pressuring them to do what you want.
Marketing is understanding your customer’s worldview – their problems and desires – so you can connect with them.
It’s NOT trying to manipulate your customer’s to scam them into buying something they don’t want or need.
It’s the ART of being a meaningful specific and making something that genuinely solves a problem – something people actually want to talk about.
Marketing is NOT taking an average product or service, designed for average people, and then ceaselessly promoting it to the masses so they can buy it.
Marketing involves bringing people together that wouldn’t otherwise be connected, and leading them – with a leader eats last attitude – to create a culture where they can emotionally connect with one another.
Good marketing helps customers.
Good marketing solves problems.
Good marketing aids people to become more of who they seek to become.
When done right, marketing is a powerful force of change.
Thus, marketing demands both EMPATHY and HUMILITY to be successfully applied.
Because of that, overall authenticity is WAY more important than making a good impression.
That’s how companies stands out to their customers.
That’s how a business becomes first in their customer’s mind.
When your solution is first in your customer’s mind, that’s how you know you’ve done your marketing right.
“The best marketing strategy ever: CARE.”
– Gary Vaynerchuk
We all want to do work that matters, and we all want to do it for people who actually care.
Nobody wants their money and efforts going to waste.
Therefore, specific attention needs to be placed on who our IDEAL prospect is.
Then, we need to go to work to SERVE them.
Let’s become a meaningful specific… not a wandering generality.