B of A, a Barber, and Porsche: Lessons In Marketing

97.5% of your “Marketing Questions” are answered here.?

I just read a not-so-well-known fact about the marketing industry. According to Commerce Spending, 40% of ALL marketing budgets are wasted. Read that again. That’s 40%. That means that almost half of your hard-earned money is wasted on marketing initiatives that do not work.??

Now, here comes the question: Is there something you can do about it? If you have the correct information, probably yes. But if you are reading this you probably don’t even know where to start.?

Regardless of what you’re selling — a product, specialty services, a website, or a specific campaign — a marketing strategy should be your primary concern. Now, I talk to about 20 people every day about their marketing, and about 99.99% do not have one.?

If you do have one and you are not happy (part of the reason you are reading this) the problem is that you may have skipped a few steps behind any successful strategy.?

Everyone has the same standard response when they’re asked what marketing is. “It’s figuring out who you are, who your audience is, and, most importantly, what makes you different than everyone else”. Right? Not quite.??

Why Marketing Strategies Should be Unique

The purpose of a marketing strategy should always focus on compelling your audience to choose your brand over the competition. After they find you.

There is an importance and value that marketing brings to the table. It puts your business on the map. If done right, it works and can double, triple, and quadruple your business.?

Therefore, using a run-of-the-mill marketing strategy that an agency deploys for every customer won’t get you very far. And if you have no idea of the EXACT steps being taken to promote your business. You are in trouble.?

Why? Because in your potential customer’s eye someone else will be selling the same thing you are and all they can use to make a decision is price. Even if what you’re selling is 100x better than your competitor.?

You’re leaving it in the hands of your customers to figure out why are you different. And that’s why everyone resorts to prices and deals to make a buying decision instead of value.

A Digital Marketing Strategy That Works.

Without making your company’s value crystal clear to your audience, a marketing strategy can’t properly get off the ground.?

Establishing and selling your brand’s value may be the most challenging part of developing a marketing strategy, but it’s the most critical part.?

How can you measure your brand’s value proposition?

If you got this point right, you should be making millions of dollars and you don’t need to keep reading. Measuring your brand’s value proposition to the market makes it easy for your target audience to understand what you bring to the table and how you can help.?

But most people have a completely wrong concept of what this even means.

What You Do Is Not What People Buy.

Yes, I said what I said, and if you think people buy what you are selling, that’s probably the first place where you are leaving a lot of money on the table.

Recently I was getting a haircut.? My barber (and I rarely talk about the subject) brought up that he thought what he did was less important than me or than the average normal “successful person”.?

“I just cut hair every day, what you do probably has more to it,” he said.?

To this, I responded.?

“That’s where you have it wrong, buddy. I did not come here to just have someone run clippers through my hair, I can do that at home. People come here to look good, be sharp, and be fresh. Coming on a Saturday here and knowing you will get the exact look you are looking for, can be the difference between feeling confident and ready to take over the world. To finally make that first move with that girl, to close that deal that will get you a promotion, or even feeling good enough about yourself to secure funding for your next venture.”?

He was speechless.?

“I guess you have a point,” he said.?

Would he have known this all along and elevated his game based on what people actually bought, he would be making $500 per cut and not $100. Anyone can cut hair. Not everyone can make you feel good and confident.?

Don't believe me? Sit at a hair salon and listen to how many times you hear, “Omg you look gorgeous.” Or, something like:? “That looks amazing on you.” The customer will walk out elated, and pay $300 without any second thoughts.?

This applies to any industry. Bank of America got it right, they know every bank has the same or more money than them. Same benjamins that we cherish so much. But look at your B of A app, it says “What would you like the power to do”. Whether they meant it that way or not, it’s genius. Because that is what their customers want, that’s what they go to the bank for, they will like the power to do what they have set out to do. They are not offering “just money” - yes that is what they do, banking and lending, but their customers want to know they have the power to do what they want.?

Examples of this are everywhere. The Porsche Tycan and Honda Oddesy Van will take you from your house to the grocery store pretty much in the same fashion. Porche buyers (and their management) know that people aren't buying a mode of transportation. They are buying something you can’t really see. It’s a value that only the owner understands. Honda made an 8-passenger vehicle. Their buyer bought peace of mind in safety and being able to fit half of the soccer team.?

I challenge any business out there to show me how they have fully understood this concept. Don’t try to sell people what the company “makes” but fully embrace what your customer is really buying.?

What you do is never what your customer buys. Understanding the target audience and their needs helps to identify specific customer problems.

Once you’ve identified what your customer needs or wants, you can make a comprehensive list of content ideas, imaging, and video ideas to share. Then, specify when they should post on each platform.?

Be VERY Clear On What They Are Buying. And Be Very Selfish About It.?

The best way to find out if you got this down is to do the following exercise. Explain to me what you do like I am a 6-year-old who then has to explain it to a 4-year-old.?

When trying to convey what you do to people, you need to keep in mind a few things.?

First, you are person number 420,293 that has tried to get a message across to them. And not I am not talking about the mystical, “12 touch points before someone recognizes you.”?

I am talking about how his wife tried to convince him to leave early from work to attend an event he doesn't want to be part of. His kids were certain he will agree to let them skip school that day and have asked him 100 times before 7:30 a.m. During his drive to work, he is in traffic and is being hammered by people trying to get to their destinations faster than him. He gets to his desk and there are about 250 emails that he has to go over that he doesn't even really want to bother with. But somehow your message is so important that you assume he will give you his undivided attention??

Here is where being selfish comes into play. Think like them, and like you don’t care about a single thing but yourself. What is in it for them? Not how long you've been doing this, or how good you are at it. How will he (or they) benefit from it? is all they care about. What can he, your customer, get out of it??

If whatever marketing efforts aren't emanating from this approach you will join the ranks of people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing efforts with little to no return.?

Now, if you can do the above and can do it in a matter of seconds and with the simplicity it will require to explain it to a 5-year-old, you will, without a shadow of a doubt triple your income almost instantly.?

How Much Money You Aren't Making?

“But JP it costs money to do all that.” No, it doesn't. When compared to all the money you are leaving on the table because people don't understand half of what you are promoting, the cost, whatever it is, pales in comparison.?

Now, is true that you can find companies charging anywhere from $5,000.00 to $50,000.00 to help you with the basics of these steps. And is also true that you may or may not have that laying around. But what is also true is that you did this at some point when you started your business. Out of necessity you gave your customer the raw version of the story, and it worked and at some point, you thought of “refining it” and lost the very essence of why people buy from you.?

So in theory this is something you can do on your own. However, being so close to your brand gives you blind spots where you start ranting about how awesome you are and forgot about the principles above. That is when bringing in someone who can have an exterior viewpoint and see it the way your customer does.?

YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE.?

Because you are not the one personally executing your marketing does not relieve you of the responsibility of making sure that its integrity isn't compromised by having people involved. Having an expert is always a good idea.

But what are they really doing? What is the relationship between you and them?

They are taking your vision, your goals, and your purpose and elaborating on it and developing them into a super coordinated, seamlessly interconnected series of activities messages put in the right medium so people know is you and feel just like when you sold your first client.?

WHY MARKETING EFFORTS FAIL.?

They don't take into account the above. Trying to work with someone who is not clear on the above is a guaranteed failure. There will be no consistency, no uniform messaging and the foundation will be completely nonexistent. Moving forward from this point is very hard.?

I can agree some marketing is better than none. But if you are at that spot where you NEED marketing to work and you need to be consistent, YOU need to fully embrace the above points, and having that crystal clear, you can then find a team that can really duplicate and understands you to carry this out WITH you.

You know better than anyone when it will be the perfect fit. You understand each other, it flees clear and fresh. There is a mutual understanding. Like talking to your best friend.?

And you might say. Well JP this is getting a bit personal don't you think, like a bit too much? The hell it is. It's like not wanting to have a close relationship with your doctor. Do you need your business to expand? Do you need people to buy your products? People to invest in you? People won’t do that if they don't know:

A) Who you are?

B) What you can do for them (now what you do, see point 1 again)

Your branding should clearly delineate this. But you will need to take it a step further and validate it through marketing efforts.?

Create Want For Your Brand

If you found CreateWant online, it’s likely because you want to figure out how to market your business so that you can create want in your prospective customer.

Bottom line. Approaching marketing with a cookie-cutter solution will never work. If you are looking for a quick fix, there are endless opportunities out there that will leave you in the exact point that you are at now.?

However, if you REALLY understood this article, agree with it, and want to learn more about how you can CreateWant for your product or service reach out to us.?

Contact us today if you’re ready to strategically drive customer demand.