That One Thing… The Price Of Eggs

Have you seen the price of eggs? I have not, but I hear it's high. It is a battle cry for those who go to the grocery store and see that their cart has less, yet they are paying more. I buy 1/2 carton of eggs every few weeks and rarely finish them all.

My wife loves carrot cake. Recently, there was a recall of carrots. I wonder if that is why I am paying $6 for one slice instead of an entire cake. I know that bird flu has caused an egg shortage lately, and maybe that limit of eggs and carrots is behind the price increase. Maybe it's corporate greed, or maybe it's a mix of all of the above and none of the above.

Making a carrot cake takes a lot of ingredients. There are 15-25 (depending on your taste or preferences), including dry ingredients, wet ingredients, spices, and more, to make the cake and then frosting. I wonder if the cost of any of those has gone up, and don't get me started on the price of labor.

But have you seen the price of eggs lately?

That One Thing

I am impressed that you made it this far in this post. What made you continue to read to this point? Was it the picture? Was it the title? Was it the first part, and how it made you feel?

No matter what got you this far, we all are looking for that one thing: to get people's attention and keep them engaged long enough to learn something and maybe even change their point of view.

We are living in a short-attention-span theater. Video used to be acceptable if it lasted the average length of a song (around 3 minutes). Now, with TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook Reels, you get between 15 and 30 seconds. The problem with that length is that you can only convey one thing. It lacks context of how and why and just defaults to entertainment.

It takes longer to convince or instruct someone. This post takes 3-5 minutes to read, which goes against best practice and shows a declining readership. My podcast has gone from 3000 listens per month to 300 per month.

This post is meant to appeal to a select few who want to learn how the next phases of marketing on the internet are going to change. It takes longer to set the table, serve the food, and make sure all the dishes (concepts) complement each other and provide a satisfying, nutritious meal.

I am trying to convey the idea (the one thing) that complex problems rarely have simple messages or solutions. Audiences are looking for that one easy thing that will rock their world and make them wealthy and successful.

But have you seen the price of eggs lately?

This One Thing

Recently, simply adding the words Artificial Intelligence in any context grabs attention. It will make us smarter, work faster, cut costs, and help your business explode. It can do all those things but it's not a monolithic answer to a complex problem. It's the dry or wet ingredient in a tasty internet-marketing carrot cake.

I have seen more ads about improving your SEO, which should help your search rankings. Yet AI is crushing Google's search capabilities and creating a shrinking ability to get found via search. The second part is that the search business is dominated by advertising, and declining search use is replaced by AI (like the new Apple Intelligence). That is making search engines display more ads to keep their business profitable.

I have seen more ads about improving your social presence, which should get you noticed more. Yet AI-run algorithms limit what people see and interact with. The second part of this is that nothing on social media is searchable on the general web and requires an account to access.

The other problem is that people are self-segmenting via social media platforms. The 800-pound gorilla is Meta, which controls Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, and Meta has its own AI. X (formally Twitter) is sputtering because of politics and is seeing people jump to Mastadon and BlueSky, which actually look and feel more like the original Twitter.

X has changed its terms of service and is now scraping all user content to train its own AI model. The problem is that a limited subset of users with a narrow view of the world can skew an AI into its own limited reality to disperse as truth.

Of course, my favorite is LinkedIn. It's owned by Microsoft and is fuelled by user content and employers posting jobs. It does have a narrow and less engaged user base than the other, but the one thing that matters to B2b marketers is to reach B2b buyers. Even Quickbooks is trying to create its own social and content network to compete with Linkedin.

If you try to fight the good fight on all those fronts, you will not only spread yourself and your resources thin, but it will give you a self-induced headache.

But have you seen the price of eggs lately?

The One Person

Instead of searching for the one thing that will get people to pay attention, engage, and buy from you, how could you focus on that one person who is already buying from you? What about that one person who has popped up to say, “Hey, I am interested.” Do they want carrot cake, red velvet, or my favorite pecan pie?

They are more concerned with the dessert than the ingredients. They may also have different tastes, but they all want the desserts that you create and serve.

I use AI in the form of Crystal Knows to get to know the personality of each new person I meet. It's not perfect, but it will help me to suggest how and why they want to communicate. It integrates with LinkedIn, so I can easily understand if they eat dessert, their preference, and how I can better communicate the features and benefits (if they are interested).

There is a bit of AI inside?my?CRM Nimble that allows me to capture those contacts?and keep notes on when we communicated and what was discussed.

Zoom now has an AI meeting assistant, but I prefer Fathom since it records the video and transcript and gives you actionable summaries of meetings.

All of those cost money and time, but those are the ingredients I use to bake the desserts of relationship marketing.

While some people and companies are trying to get you to buy the whole cake or bakery, I just want to serve up a digestible piece that I know will keep my customers and contacts wanting more.

Closing Thought

I understand that it's harder today to get and keep people's attention than it was a few years ago. I predict that it will only get harder in the coming year. People are overwhelmed, tired, and lack patience but still need you and what you sell.

Times change, people change, businesses change, and AI will accelerate this change. What has not changed is that “Businesses do not do business with other businesses… People do business with people!”

It will take more time and effort than ‘wish marketing' or trying to advertise your way out of this conundrum, but now is the time to get started. As the year closes out, you want to make sure that you get your piece of the pie by getting to know people better and using that information to serve up your tasty desserts.

But have you seen the price of eggs lately?

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at?The Bacon Podcast.