Category: Marketing

Is Your Marketing Material Also A Resource?

I keep the annual catalog
for Veseys Seeds
for the entire year.

It is jammed full
of gardening advice
and tips about growing plants
in my area of the world.

And yes,
when I need to order
seeds or bulbs,
I order from Veseys
as I have the catalog right there.

I keep the contact information
for a realtor on my fridge.
It is on a magnet with a calendar
on it
and I get a new one
from this realtor every year.

Having a calendar
on my fridge is helpful.

And yes, if I ever
need a realtor,
I will call him.

Marketing material
with helpful information on it
is often
saved.

If you want your marketing material
to be kept by prospects,
craft it as a resource.

They Won’t ‘Eventually’ Notice

Keep putting out great products
and someone will eventually notice.

Older business gurus offer
this advice
ALL the time.

It is wrong,
so very wrong.

Look at this blog
– client k.
I’ve posted every day
here
for a couple decades.

My readership is tiny.
And it isn’t growing.

There’s a LOT
of sh*t on the internet.
It is highly unlikely
someone will ‘discover’ this blog.

If I cared about
the size of my readership
(I don’t),
I should promote
this blog
– constantly.

I would definitely
have to do some things,
perhaps many things
differently.

If your products/services
have too small of a customer base
for you,
you have to do something
different
also.

No one is going to
‘discover’ you.

You have to bring
yourself, your business,
your products/services
to prospective customers.

When The People Around You Hate You

The Dr. Oz video
with him attempting to shop
at a grocery store
is what happens
when the people
around you
hate you.

His goal,
I believe,
was to appear
like an average person.

Instead,
it shows how out of touch
he is
with the average person.

He says he’s shopping
for a crudité,
a term not many average people
use.
He misnames the grocery store.
He misnames vegetables.
He shops without a basket.

It is an embarrassing mess.
Yet the people around him
allowed him
to share it
on social media.

Ensure you have people
around you
who will stop you
from doing f*cked up things
like this.
And ensure
you listen to them.

We ALL need
a support team
who actually supports us.

To Kill A Mockingbird And Marketing

Whenever people talk about titles
and branding,
To Kill A Mockingbird
is mentioned.

Is it a good title?
A bad title?

Who cares!
It is an OLD title.

To Kill A Mockingbird
was published in 1960
for people who were likely
12 years old or older.

Was it a good title
for those readers then?
Clearly yes,
or it wouldn’t be a classic today.

But those people
are 74 years old now
and the 12 year olds today
are VERY different people.
What worked for their
great-grandparents
won’t work for them.

The book continues to sell
because it is a classic,
not because the title
works well with new readers.

This is the issue with many
classic brand names.

McDonald’s was founded in 1955, for example.
It was a good brand name THEN.
And McDonald’s is so well known now,
it works for the company today.

But it wouldn’t be a good brand name
for a new company.
(The apostrophe, alone, would cause
search engine issues.)

Brand names that worked
in the past
likely wouldn’t work today
for new entrants.

Ensure your brand name
appeals to YOUR target market.

Your Actions (Or Lack Of Actions) Are Visible

There was recently an election
in my corner of the world.

One party was clearly planning
to eliminate teaching and healthcare jobs.
The other parties planned
to increase them.

The anti-healthcare, anti-teaching party
won.

And, as promised,
they are eliminating those jobs.

Healthcare workers and teachers
are, clearly, upset.

But they are struggling
to find sympathy because…

So few people voted
healthcare workers and teachers
had the ability
to decide the election.

They either didn’t vote
or they voted
for the party cutting their jobs.

You might think
your actions
(or your lack of action)
are hidden
but they likely aren’t.

Act as though
your actions will be revealed
and plastered across
the front pages of newspapers.

Because they COULD be.

Not Everyone Reads FAQs

A buddy, after reading
yesterday’s post
on answering questions
asked by latecomers
to my series (products),
told me
I should post
the answers
to Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)
on my website.

I DO post them on my website
and yes,
the answers to the latecomer’s questions
were there.

But not everyone reads FAQs.
Not everyone searches
for answers.

In my experience,
not many people
do that.

Most people ask the author/company
or
they post the question
on social media
and let any random person answer it.

That’s easier for them.

Yes, post answers
to FAQs on your website
but know that
you’ll likely receive messages
asking those same questions.

How To Traumatize Your Female Target Market

The makers of
the Game Of Thrones prequel
House Of The Dragon
proudly announced
that the show will
have much more sexual violence
i.e. rape
in it,
saying they wanted to make it
‘true’ to the Middle Ages,
to shine a light on all that rape.

That’s a bullsh*t reason.
The f*ckin’ show has dragons in it.
Nothing about it is ‘true’
to the Middle Ages.

And if they were going in that direction,
the women wouldn’t have shaved legs
or underarms
and everyone should have yellow teeth.

No, they added the rape
because someone on that team
fantasizes about rape.

And they are intentionally
traumatizing their female viewers
by catering to that person.

81% of women have REPORTED
experiencing some form
of sexual harassment
and/or assault in their lifetime.

81%.

And that includes only the women
who reported it.
The percentage is much higher than that.

We all know someone
who has been raped.
Almost all of us
have experienced some sort
of sexual violence.

If rape is a selling point
for your product
in the entertainment space,
know that you’re making that product
for horrible people.

I regret having ever watched
Game Of Thrones.

Why You NEED To Add Video

54% of adult Americans read
below the sixth-grade level.

They are unable to read
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
or
any of the Harry Potter books
or…well…this post.

They are unlikely to read
ANY source material,
ANY attachments,
ANY research to back up claims.

This is why FOX news
is so popular
and why very few people call them
on their complete bullsh*t.

Many of their viewers
belong to that 54%.

They rely on people
to tell them what is true
and they don’t research it
themselves.
They don’t challenge claims
if they think
those claims MIGHT be true.

And this is why
you need video
as part of your marketing campaign
(unless your products/services
are specifically targeting readers
as my Romance Novels are).

Invest in video.

Being Copied

Successful new businesses
are differentiated a bit
from their competitors.
That is why
customers choose them.

Successful new businesses
are also
copied.
Other people see their success
and want to be
just like them.

But these copycats
will never be
exactly like the original.

Their business builders
aren’t you and I.
They’re different people
with different outlooks on life
and different strengths
and weaknesses.

The copycat businesses will never
be known
as the first.
There is only one first
and our businesses
have that title.

Our businesses also
should be evolving
as the world around us
changes.

The copycat businesses
can’t permanently copy
our businesses.
They can only copy
our businesses
at one point of time.

If we’re worried
about being copied,
that is a sign
we’re not evolving.

Never stop improving.

Criticizing The Messenger

One of the common ways
opponents try to block
change
is by criticizing the person
asking for that change.

You want to eliminate
homelessness, for example?

You’ll be criticized
if you live in a home.
Opponents will say
you’re the elite
and don’t understand the situation.

You’ll be criticized
if you rent your home.
Opponents will say
you’re taking away
a rental property
from someone who truly needs it.

You’ll be criticized
if you don’t have a home.
Opponents will say
you don’t understand the problem.

By criticizing you,
opponents shift the attention away
from the change
you’re seeking the world to make.
It’s deflection.

And it’s effective.
It dissuades people
from talking,
from pushing for change.

Don’t allow this
to stop you.

Push for the change
you want to see in the world.
You don’t have to be perfect
to make a difference.