Marketing Conundrum: To focus on one idea in a world of ABUNDANCE?
Marketing is a challenge for every entrepreneur (big or small), especially when you have so much to offer (a smorgasbord of products/offers to choose from), and you know (or every 'guru' tells you) that your market (prospect) is likely to only be able to focus on one thing - what they want or need at that time.
For this 31st issue, I will be referring to Chapter 5 of?Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur ?-?Simple Ideas To Grow Your Business:?How you can DOUBLE your business income potential.. & more!?- a publication I first penned in the mid-1990s and that has stood the test of time.. and still produces the goods for me.
If you're new to us it is recommended that you read issue 1:?One Idea is All it Takes
About:?Trevor Nel is an 'ideas-generating machine' and co-founder of?WISDOMS ?. You can connect with WISDOMS? and become: 1. a?PATRON ?and/or; 2. a?PLAYER ?, and/or; 3. a?PARTNER ?- follow each link for more info.
From Chapter 5 of Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur -?by Trevor Nel
Extract: In this chapter, I touch on Profit-Driver No.?5 - Your USP - what differentiates you, your business and your product from your competition?
GROWTH Profit-Driver?No.5.
Your USP - UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION
Of all the business Profit-Drivers I focus on, this for me is the SIMPLEST, yet?most profound!
Your USP?is the critical HOOK upon which your entire business strategy and tactical processes will hang.
I go on to describe the different HOOKS that I created for the many different business concepts I have developed. In the workshop presentation slides, that flowed from the Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur publication, I utilized a visual of fishing flies (from my favorite pastime) as a metaphor for highlighting the importance of choosing the correct hook for the fish (prospect) you hope to land.
Today, some many years later, in my late 60s (rapidly approaching 70), having gained tons more life & business experience, in abundance, I recognize that it becomes more and more challenging for myself to focus upon and highlight the concentrated essence of the USP - Unique Selling Proposition - of concepts I develop, as I remind myself in this extract:
Extract : 'For me, unless you can describe your USP in 60 seconds or less, you will probably never truly understand what really differentiates you from your competition or the general business 'noise' around you.
'Bear in mind that 'noise' is what competes with you for your potential customer’s money.'?
It is almost as if, today, I am the owner of one of the most incredible of candy-stores in the world.. stocked with every brand-name of candy sweet.. and more.
Or, to continue the fly-fishing metaphor, it is as if I am the owner of the most incredible fly-fishing store in the world stocked with every fly-fishing lure (hook) known to man..!
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As if to add more fuel to the marketing conundrum (or challenge) that I allude to, I have just returned from an 'invigorating' shopping session (courtesy of an invitation that I could not refuse from my wife) at one of Africa's largest wholesale / retail stores - Makro . Their self-proclaimed fame being founded upon: 'As a leading wholesaler and retailer.. ?you are sure to find everything you need at Makro. Everything under one roof. Access to over 65 000 products. A total of 21?Makro stores trade in South Africa, bringing convenience and affordability to local households and businesses.'
So what's the marketing challenge (or conundrum) that I talk of?
Well, here it is. Knowing that almost every marketing 'guru' of the 2020s (especially in social media) will tell you: ..that prospects are most likely only able to focus on one thing - what they want or need at that time; ..that prospects will get confused, indecisive, and unlikely to buy, when offered too much; who or what is right?
Is it the entrepreneur who focuses on appealing / marketing to a singular market / prospect with a specific want or need? Or, is it the mega business operator who stocks almost every product known to man?
Here's my answer for every entrepreneur facing this conundrum: There is no right answer.. only a wrong answer!
The wrong answer is to be indecisive and not to take any action at all. The wrong answer is to sit on your idea because it may not conform to what marketing 'gurus' might be saying.
The solution is always to be moving forward on your idea. To never give up on it. To be testing, testing, testing what your market really wants. To fail forward if you have to. To keep on keeping on. To be turning your idea or concept into a WOW! project. See: What's Your 'WOW!' Idea?
In the above article I quote Tom Peters: '“Wow Projects”: projects that add value, projects that matter, projects that make a difference, projects that leave a legacy — and, yes, projects that make you a star.'
'Never let a project go dreary on you. Your goal should be to work in perpetuity with Wow people, on Wow Projects, for Wowable clients. How do you know when your project measures up? Each week, ask yourself and your teammates, “Will we be bragging about this project five years from now? If the odds of success are low, what can we do — right now! — to turn up the heat?” '
'No project is too mundane to become a Wow Project.'
In Big Idea. vs. Big Talk . I write: '..far too many big ideas sadly disappear into the ether because they end up being nothing more than?all talk and no action.'
'The real truth is that to move from?Big Ideas?to?Big Profits?requires?BIG ACTION?with?Big Sharing?of?Big Resources?for astute leveraging between?Big Idea Collaborators?for?mutual benefit. Ideally, each party should be able to visualize the opportunity in utilizing their skill / resource / experience / brand / channels / reach to unlock exponential sales / market / revenue potential in collaboration with the other. The secret is to openly share who you are, what you want to achieve, and who you want to collaborate with.'
You may be the developer of just one product of the 65000 products that claim shelf space in a mega-wholesaler store, or you may be the developer of the mega-wholesaler chain of stores.. each will have a USP - Unique Selling Proposition - a HOOK - that will appeal to different people for different reasons at different times.
Never stop trying. Never stop tying.. fishing-flies, that is. Never stop offering your hook to your prospects. Never stop tying new hooks.
Remember..?just one idea is all it takes .
Next week:?issue 32 - We look into some ideas for creating a simple, powerful, purposeful manifesto to provide an immovable beacon for your life & business.
Trevor Nel?is author of numerous publications & articles, including :
?? Empathy Advocate & Marketing Innovator | Changing the tools of engagement, one vibration at a time.
2 年Thought-provoking as always, Trevor. Believing in your idea is vital! After all the testing and tweaking, it may not look anything like it did at the start, but the tree looks nothing like the seed, anyway.
Another gem. My USP has wandered somewhat and settled, for a while at least, on good leadership. If there's ever a need that will benefit our world at large it's good leadership. My contribution to the development of good leaders is to share what I, and my board of advisors, have learnt and continue to learn in our lifes journeys. Every pebble thrown into water, regardless of it's size, sends ripples the extent of which is far further than we can observe so I will continue to throw pebbles.