Attract Customers. Make Competition Irrelevant.

The note that tumbled into the inbox following Thursday’s webinar landed with a thud.

Four paragraphs spoke volumes about a struggle that’s all too common for many business leaders. In many ways, it captured the essence of real-life marketing issues that leaders like you might face each day. Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:

"I have listened to that webinar 4 times now and I learn something new each time. I am so tired of running Facebook ads for 21-day challenges and giving FB all my money. But we just can’t seem to get those warm leads".

Can you relate to what this business owner is going through? Have you been to that frustrating, brain-wracking place where this person is at?

You may have wondered yourself from time to time … “How do I attract more customers to come our way without spending a fortune on advertising”? “How do I avoid blending in with all the noise out there” “How can I feel confident that the marketing investments we make will actually pay off?

The real-life answer to this real-life problem is astonishingly simple.

It begins when you, as an intelligent, long-term thinking business leader, (yes, that means you) makes a no-turning back decision:

Will you put a dramatic halt to using 20th century marketing strategies on 21st century platforms?

If you can relate to the woman who sent that e-mail, the real reason you’re not seeing results is because of a strategic decision you made some time ago. A decision that keeps backfiring in your face and pocketbook.

Somewhere along the way, you made a choice to prioritize your selection of a marketing platform over the power of your story. Platforms like Facebook are no different than 20th century platforms like the Yellow Pages, the local newspaper or the radio station. Platforms are just the vehicles that deliver your story to any audience that you’re hoping to reach. Focusing on the choice of platform before figuring out your overall brand strategy is often a waste of time and money.

It’s never the choice of platform that intrigues your future customer. It’s what you actually SAY with your MESSAGE.

In other words, if what you are saying isn’t blisteringly relevant or radically different it disappears into the noise. If your message is irritatingly intrusive, interruptive or perceived as selfish, it tumbles into the mental dustbin of more uninvited noise. Spamming a sales pitch across multiple platforms is easy and cheap.

Before any potential customer from any audience makes a decision to buy from you, they first have to trust you.

Before they can trust you, they first have to feel some kind of human connection with you. So, how can you, expect them to make that type of emotional connection when you’re busy pumping out noisy Facebook ads peppered with self-serving promotional sales pitches?Without a sincere effort to build trust and connection, having access to platforms and data is worthless.The best way for any brand to make a meaningful connection is when you decide to share a piece of you that is yours and yours alone.

Your story.

The one that only you can tell.

No matter how crowded your competitive space, you will never feel the need to compete once you know who you are - beyond the products and services you sell. If you can dig deep and Discover, Tell & Live your own story, you essentially make the competition irrelevant. A perfect example is what happened when a 3rd generation CEO shared a little bit of his family history as we were catching up and swapping stories at a Baton Rouge coffee shop. It wasn't long after that conversation that 'Smokin' Joe Howard from St. Francisville, LA (pictured above) found his way to Hawaii, becoming both captain and chief storyteller at the metaphorical helm of the Real American Motorship.

My friend Bob Lennon who brings "Northern Heat"from New Brunswick, Canada has also adopted the same strategy; helping customers all over the world understand what separates him from all others in his category.

Out of Toronto, Ontario, Robin Kerbel made a decision a while back to share her story and help anyone watching how they can Re-Imagine Science and Break Through.

And dating back to 2006, Jim Gilbert has enjoyed phenomenal business and brand growth once he and his wife Dawna stepped into their own story and became "Canada's Huggable Car Dealer."

As the world grows increasingly cynical and skeptical, more consumers want to know more about the functional aspects and price of your products and services. Which is why online video that tells a story has become the 21st equivalent to a having a business card or Yellow Pages ad. More than 85% of all Internet traffic is expected to be video-based by 2022, which would by 15 times higher than it was in 2017. YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world, yet, more than 90% of all B2B companies have either zero or minimal presence on YouTube. Let's be even more clear about this issue, especially since the internet is polluted with video marketing stats all pointing to the same thing: Video is the Present & Future of Marketing.

• According to Hubspot, 78% of people watch online videos every week, while 54% watch videos every day.
• Google’s research shows that 6 out of 10 people would rather watch online videos than television.
• Unbounce found that a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%.
• Insivia reports that a website with video is 53-X more likely to hit Page One on Google.

To meet this growing demand, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn have all become ‘video first’ and created new video-friendly placements like ‘live’ broadcasting, and ‘stories’. Sadly, most boomers over the age of 50 are likely to be slightly miffed or seriously offended by this post. But, that’s OK because there is nothing anyone can do to help crusty old fuddy-duddies who did not get the memo, still have money to burn and who believe the marketing strategies they grew up with in the previous century are still relevant today.

Can you make a strategic decision to escape the noise and make a contribution by using the power of your own voice? Will you become part of an on-going dialogue that aims to brighten the feed, create community and connect with the right people, at the right time? Will you move your brand towards the future or remain rooted in the past?

The Internet isn’t designed for advertisers to hurl one-way messages aimed at mass audiences like the Super Bowl, the final episode of Seinfeld or The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in ’64. You can’t expect to connect with the multitudes in massive numbers. You can only expect to appeal to less than a tiny sliver of the audience pie, but you have the power at your fingertips to build something solid with a small portion of like-minded people that will resonate with your ideas and hear what you have to say. And who knows, if what you say is compelling enough, that small portion might begin to multiply through user-generated content and word of mouth. If you examine his recent deal with Spotify, this strategy appears to have worked $100 million times over for Joe Rogan.

The people you need to connect with most don’t want or need any more noise.

But…they would love to hear your story.

Making a strategic choice about your story and message is far more critical than your choice of platform or media.

What story do you plan to tell and how long will you keep the audience waiting?

“The media delivering your message is the least important part of the communication equation. When your message is right, any media will work. When your message is wrong, no media will” ROY H. WILLIAMS

p.s... As a business leader, your # 1 marketing job is developing that sharp nail or your business and brand. And the sharpest nail that's waiting to be delivered with maximum impact will only happen when you Discover, Tell & Live your own story. On video. After repeated attempts to get it right, this was my attempt at it in May of 2015.

Since those early baby steps, the team and I keep running full tilt trying to find new and better ways to tell stories through video. I am blessed to have a certain Defiant Astronaut riding shotgun on this adventure.

p.p.s. ... Many years ago, a real-life wizard taught me the about the power and energy that ripples through the universe when you begin to step into your own story and start to tell it. Best-selling author Roy H. Williams, aka "The Wizard of Ads" once asked the following: "Would you rather reach 100% of the people and convince them 10% of the way of them, or reach 10% of the people and convince all of them all the way? Your message is the nail, repetition is the hammer, and a block of wood is the customer. If the nail is sharp and you hammer effectively, you will pierce through the wood and clinch the customer".

At world-famous Wizard Academy, a 30-acre campus situated 20-minutes outside out Austin, TX , they routinely discover the science in every art, change lives and blow minds.

Wizard Academy is where you have an opportunity to open the door to a truly Magical World as Chancellor Daniel Whittington gives it his best effort to explain the Academy's signature workshop.

NOW BOOKING VIRTUAL EVENTS FOR BIG LITTLE LEGENDS!

The language of brand speaks to humans in a way that is metaphorical, meaningful, emotional and symbolic. The language of business communicates in a way that is logical, literal, mechanical and analytical. How then, does a business leader – in any industry – any product/service category become fluent in BOTH of these vitally important languages?

This unforgettable keynote/workshop (and preview of the forthcoming book) is now available in a Virtual format, Designed to challenge accepted notions of how long-term brand-building really works these days, it forces leaders to re-think what's possible and the role they play in creating modern-day legacy. Here is a preview of BIG LITTLE LEGENDS - How Everyday Leaders Build Irresistible Brands.

For more information: [email protected]

If you are curious about what's involved to get the proper gear to support your own video publishing efforts, our media partners @ Defiant Astronaut Media have a few ideas to get your started. Click here: https://kit.co/defiantastronaut

As always we are open to serving small to medium size business owners with an open heart and no strings attached. That's why we always schedule a limited number of 20-Minute Discovery Sessions via ZOOM. If you are facing a business or branding challenge that you are not quite sure how to handle, we’re only a click away.

Get daily updates and continue the DISCUSSION on FACEBOOK or visit www.gairmaxwell.com

"Everything you can imagine is real"  PABLO PICASSO