Hard Pass.
“Everyone is NOT your customer.”
This ridiculously simple quote would save so many small businesses so much time, aggravation, and money if they just digested it and took it to heart. As a small business owner, sometimes the tendency is to get that product or service in front of EVERYONE. And while I completely understand that in terms of exposure, etc., it's almost NEVER a good idea to focus on this strategy.
I learned so many lessons owning and operating a digital marketing agency, especially in the early days. I would take ANY customer just to pay the bills, and over time, thank GOD, I came to realize that this strategy was a runway to nowhere. I had to learn how to say no and how to pass on all of the little guys who simply didn't have budget, OR didn't "get it", or simply wanted instant results.
By chiseling away until you find your target customer sweet spot, you start to also find the real value that your company brings to the marketplace. You start to stand firm on your pricing, you start to design your material for that certain demographic, you start to grow and thrive within a niche, you start to truly speak the language of the customers that are going to gravitate to you. You now KNOW your customer, and that is by far one of the fundamentals of marketing and branding.
It's not easy to pass on a customer, especially when people rely on you for paychecks, but the headaches, trouble, and the money that it costs in the long run far outweighs the quick benefit of some cash. Remember, niches make riches.
Thanks for reading, sharing, and Hard Passing on customers who don't spark joy.
Your Authentic Brand Self
With a barrage of constantly churned out content splattering all over the interwebs on the daily, it's becoming more and more challenging to garner attention for brands. Today's consumers are hit at all angles with slick marketing messages, content being created by influencers, and ads. It's become so much that our brains can't process all of the content being thrown at us so we start to ignore the nonsense automagically.
The Humanity of it All
Some brands have a tendency to speak their own language. They do this because its the path of least resistance, it's easy. They craft messaging points about their bundles, or their products that are riddled with engineer speak or worse yet, lawyer speak. This is the stuff that becomes noise, this is the stuff that today's consumers will simply ignore.
Heroes Of The Day
The brands that are breaking through are the brands that make their consumers/prospects the hero of the message. They don't obsess about the details of their products in their messaging, rather, they focus on the impact of their goods on the target consumer. The end result, the brand triggers an emotion in the prospect, that emotion leads to a stronger connection, that stronger connection could lead to a sale, or at least, be top of mind for the consumer when they are ready to buy.
A Fine Line
How can your brand be more authentic? It starts with defining what's at the core of the business. What drives the business, why does the business exist, what does the brand care about? Articulating this "stuff" into the brand's messaging, social media content, ads, and most importantly, internally, is mission critical. Ensure that your internal messaging and reality matches your external messaging and reality, this is often the trap where consumers start to see chinks in the brand armor.
It's also critical to know your customer. What fuels them, what will make their life easier, how can we save them time, money, and aggravation? Weaving that knowledge into our brand footprint allows us to always put the customer first and ensure that any messaging point puts them first.
The Feel Good
When your prospects feel good about your messaging, or an ad brings a smile to their face, you win. You many not win this second, but you are changing something within them. That's what true marketing is, changing the way that someone feels about something. That's what we're after in all of our messaging and in all of our interactions. The brands that ask themselves, "self, how can I spark joy today" already set themselves up for success.
The Bottom Line
Be human, be sincere, be genuine and always put your customers first in all of your messaging. Striving to be different for the sake of being different will almost always result in tripping consumer bullshit detectors. Thanks for reading and sharing!