Everything I Learned About Marketing on a Shopping Trip with My Middle-Schooler

Once every month or two, my 12-year-old daughter and I have a ‘Girly Afternoon’ for just the two of us. It usually involves walking around the city, grabbing a crepe or basket of pommes frites for lunch, and wandering in and out of some of our favorite shops.

On this particular afternoon, we found ourselves with two other mother-daughter duos in the candle section of a fun little TJ Maxx-meets-Pier One store.?

The daughter of the first duo was visibly upset. She sulked, foot-stomped, and raised her voice. She picked up candle after candle—it didn’t matter which one. She wanted a candle, and she wanted it now. Her mom was desperate to convince her to get the one she had chosen.

The daughter of the second duo was taking it all in. She slowly made her way from shelf to shelf, lingering in thought, before finally picking up a small cloud-shaped, scented candle.?

‘This one is going to fit in so well with the collection,’ she told her mom. ‘I just love it.’

And they made their way to the register while the first duo remained in the throes of a desperate tantrum.

Step Out of the “See What Sticks” Trap

Sometimes business owners can fall into the trap of thinking that marketing is all about selling to anybody and everybody.

Smart business owners know that marketing is actually about selling to the RIGHT people.

Beyond identifying the demographics of your best-fit target market, set all the jargon aside and get to the core of who you want to work with.

Changing Your Mindset to Attract the RIGHT people

Instead of throwing messaging and content around to see what sticks, create a guideline that you can use to measure every single piece of visibility and credibility you have out there.

Do you want clients who choose you because they’re desperate–or who choose you because they WANT to?

Nope.

You want clients who see you as an incredibly valuable addition to their toolbox–not the Hail Mary meant to save them (often expected to be in 3 days and for a discounted rate; otherwise it’s a failure…).

You want clients who take the time to understand who you are and what you do and who are fully confident that YOU—not just anyone—are who they’re meant to work with.

Next Steps

So how do you position yourself as someone’s carefully selected, scented cloud-shaped candle- rather than any ‘ol candle on the shelf that would suffice?

Strategically.?

With a proven, results-driven approach that layers together a solid brand strategy, impactful messaging, and customized visibility efforts.?

Need help pulling it all together? We’d love to chat. Head over to https://whittergroupllc.com/ to schedule your discovery call.