And why are they saying what they are saying?
I was speaking yesterday to a brilliant woman who was great at what she did. In this new economy, this woman could be VERY profitable, yet… she was stuck. She was stuck in her own story. Her story was that she was not good at “this marketing thing”. Supposedly a common “problem” among entreprenuers, but I had to disagree. You see, when you are knowledgeable and passionate about what you do (and she was) marketing should be easy. Marketing is simply communication…. conversation… meeting a need… offering a service that truly serves someone… Where did she get stuck?
I am guessing where most of us get stuck. We think of marketing and we think of all of the rules. There are rules for good “copy”, rules for great search engine optimization, rules for “niche” marketing, rules for internet marketing, direct mail, networking, face-to-face selling, AHHHHH!!! It seems so difficult, so complicated… I mean, every where you look you can find “DEADLY MISTAKES” that could kill your marketing attempts, right? No wonder we get stuck here. We just don’t know enough. We may screw it up. We are simply not good at marketing. Right?
Nope… it is all B.S.!! I wonder why everyone wants to SCARE you about marketing? What would people have to gain by having us think this “M” word is so scary… so difficult to pull off successfully? The same reason the vacuum salesman wants to scare us about “dust mites” in our carpet. The same reason the ad salesman wants to scare us about not paying for advertising in “this economy”. (I have never paid for advertising, by the way… ever.) The same reason these “breakfast networking groups” want to scare us about not “getting out there”. (Out WHERE, exactly?) The same reason the car salesman wants to scare us about the dangers lurking under the hood of our old (and paid for) car. WHY? Because they want to SELL us their solution.
Yesterday, I could have used this conversation with this woman to try to make myself look really smart, brilliant, etc. I could have taken her through the “Seven Sensational Secrets of Great Marketing”, and “WOW”ed her with my “expertise”. I could have agreed with her about how HARD marketing is and tried to “sell” her on hiring me to help her “get this thing rolling”! But, that would have been a disservice, and a waste of time – hers and mine.
Truly, I am a marketing expert and I don’t mind saying it. But rather than try to look smart, I simply want to share with you how you can be a marketing expert as well. Because it is simple. So simple, in fact, that most entrepreneurs DISMISS it… to the detriment of their bank accounts. The ONE “Sensational Secret of Great Marketing” is free. It is effective. It is “no-fail”. The secret is: SERVICE! Yep, service! Serve enough people and your INCOME will quickly catch up to your value.
Look for ways to truly serve your market… not sell them. EVERYONE hates to be “sold”, but we all loved to be truly served. Meet their needs. Ease their pain. Create solutions. Marketing can be boiled down to great conversations. One conversation at a time. Get to know your market. What are they asking for? Service.
Don’t forget, though that “billing” your client is also a form of service. We often don’t appreciate what is given to us for FREE… unfortunately, we often “devalue” it! So, if you can add to someone’s life, relieve pain, increase joy, provide better balance, create solutions, don’t be afraid to charge them for it. If you are TRULY serving them, they will happily pay to keep that service going.
Okay.. back to WHO are you listening to? This morning I was reading a book with my daughter. It was called, “A Bargain for Francis”. Francis’ and her friend Thelma wanted to buy a tea set. The REAL china kind, with the blue pictures on it… Francis had been saving her money to buy this tea set. Thelma started talking about how expensive the tea sets were, and how they weren’t sold anywhere anymore, and how easily they break. WHY was she saying all of this? BEcause she was convincing Francis to buy HER plastic tea set. When Francis was convinced that she could not afford or find her dream tea set, she bought Thelma’s. Thelma then made Francis promise “NO BACKSIES”, and promptly went down to the local store and bought the exact ceramic tea set that Francis was wanting. Francis could have bought it all along. Unfortunately she wasn’t careful who she was listening to!! She didn’t consider her motive… I have been guilty of that many times in my life. Now, I pay attention: WHO am I listening to? (That list is SMALL by the way, in every area of my life.) And WHY are they saying what they are saying? What is their motive?
I won’t ruin the book for you, but on page 24, Francis uses the same technique to get her money back… 🙂 🙂
