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The Uncommon Advantage
In the 80s you’d walk into a record shop and the store owner, along with the record company would literally tell you what to buy. In every store there was a wall with 100 square compartments, numbered unsurprisingly—TOP 100. You got to chose from what everyone else liked, or what DJs were playing that week. The mainstream, the normal.
Telling people what to believe and what to buy worked for a little while, but it’s not working so well now. Now it’s cool to be the guy who discovered the little band from Texas before the rest of the world knew about them. People don’t want to be mainstream or normal. They no longer want a choice of rock or pop, punk or disco, this or that?
People aren’t just buying different, they are making choices right out there on the edges, as far out on the precipice as it’s possible to go. People want what they want, not what the world tells them they can have.
We have witnessed the end of ‘or’ and the rise of the uncommon advantage, which leaves untapped markets, unfulfilled needs and unspoken desires ripe for discovery, reinvention and innovation.
The world is waiting for you.
Image by Sharon Drummond.
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The Art Of The Offer
When we offer something, by definition we are putting it forward for consideration.
And that’s often where we get stuck, selling our offerings, or ourselves short, because we become fixated on ‘the what’ of the offer.
IKEA doesn’t sell you those six glasses and that red cushion you didn’t really need by honing in on the offering. They zoom out, paint a big picture for you and get under your skin.
It’s easy to get caught up in the tangible value you deliver, because it feels easier and safer to articulate. Far better to remind people of what they want, and then to give them that.
Image by Kurt Groetsch.
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Don’t Just Build A Better Mousetrap
Do you remember when life was simple? A time when all tea bags were square and flat, and came with tea flavoured tea inside? Suddenly out of nowhere the tea landscape got messy and we had round bags, and bags with drawstrings.
Tiny artisan tea companies sprouted up, selling boutique teas enveloped in gossamer pyramids, that allowed the leaves to release their bold, intense taste and aromatic citrus notes. Many of these little companies built their businesses around the difference in the specifications of their tea and packaging. But now that mainstream brands like Lipton and Twinings are in on pyramid shaped bags, flavoured teas and the indulgent copywriting game, how will these brands survive?
The truth is that great brands are not created with better built mouse traps, or more features and benefits. The brands that we care about are not built solely around transactions, and exchanges of this for that. They don’t create buyers and make sales, what they actually do is create a sense of ownership, which is much harder to replicate. And that’s why they matter to us.
Image by Eva Rinaldi.
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Do Your Customers Feel Like They Belong?
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
I got a sensory jolt when I arrived at the QT Hotel on the Gold Coast last week, to speak at the Problogger Conference. The concierge greeted me wearing bright pink shorts and a matching smile, offering home made lemonade from the stand in the foyer. The receptionists wore one piece turquoise jumpsuits, with red piping and bright red belts (try carrying an extra kilo on your hips in one of those!).
Did I mention the cockatoo lamps in the bedroom, and the beach ready thongs (not what you’re thinking if you’re not Australian) hanging on pegs in net bags on the bedroom wall?
Everything was designed to say, “you have arrived on the Gold Coast, it’s okay to chill out, let their hair down and feel the sand between your toes.”
What QT have cleverly done, is to turn up the volume on how they want their guests to feel.
And that got me thinking….why do hotel staff wear black waistcoats anyway? And why do most hotels make us feel like we’re just passing through, when what we really want is to belong?
Are you turning up the volume on how your customers want to feel?
Image by Luke Chan.
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5 Steps To Getting Things Done, Strategy Before Tactics
filed in Strategy
On rare sunny, summer days at the beach in Dublin, my brother and I would have long, drawn out arguments about how deep and wide to dig the moat around our sandcastle.
Obsessing over the tactics feels like the important work. We can often trick ourselves into jumping ahead to details that don’t yet matter, before we’ve done the real work of understanding the problem we’re going to solve.
It’s fun to think about what colour to paint the walls of your new café, or to spend hours mulling over which font to have in your ebook title.
But strategy must come before tactics, like so
1. Goal
Decide what you want to achieve.
2. Strategy
What are you going to do to achieve it?
3. Plan
What are the steps that are going to get you there?
4. Tactics
What tools will you use to help you?
5. Take action
Start, and more importantly finish.
It doesn’t matter how wide your moat is, if you build your sandcastle in the wrong place.
And the flip side is, you won’t know any of this, until you pick your spot and begin to dig.
Image by sarah-ji.
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Content Is Not King
If you Google these four words you’ll get over 600 million search results in less than 0.2 seconds. Amongst these links you will read articles about putting as much content ‘out there’ as you can. Others will urge you to ditch advertising and create content instead, because content is the new way to drive traffic, generate leads and maybe even add some value.
But just like a billboard is a flat surface, content is just something that’s expressed, until it creates meaning for people. Yes, more than 300 million people read blogs every month, but they’re not actually searching for content.
Don’t set out to simply create content, inspire, delight, inform, educate, be generous, move people, help them to belong and to matter. Go make meaning instead.
Image by @abrunvoll.
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How To Tell The Story Of Your Idea Using The ‘Value Proposition Hack’
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
The biggest challenge that many of my clients have isn’t coming up with great ideas, it’s articulating why those ideas should matter, to the right people. Explaining the value of an idea can be tough if you don’t have a place to start. I created the ‘value proposition hack’, so that you would have a way to explain the value of your idea succinctly, in just one sentence. Simply fill in the blanks, then finesse as required.
We do ———————————, so that you can do/feel/be ———————————.
We created ———————————, so you don’t have to do/feel/be ———————————.
The value you create may be multi-layered, or it might be intangible (a feeling, not a physical benefit) it still pays to write this down.
Here are some examples of value propositions which could be applied to existing business ideas, that I created using the ‘value proposition hack’.
At Method we make safe, natural cleaning products that work, so that you feel good about using them. And you don’t even need to hide our beautifully designed packaging in the kitchen cupboard.
We created Method, so that you don’t have to breathe toxic fumes as you clean, now you can experience great cleaning results, while caring for the planet too.
We don’t add artificial ingredients to our yogurt, because we want to maintain the integrity of the natural ingredients, so that you can experience the taste of real, good, simple yogurt.
We created Chobani, so that you can enjoy a real, good simple yogurt, made with only natural ingredients.
I blog at The Art of Non Conformity, so that people like you who want to change the world, can be inspired to achieve their personal goals.
I created The Art of Non Conformity, so you could see that you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.
Your turn.
Image by MTSOfan.
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Why People Pay And Why It Matters
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
The dictionary will tell you that marketing is the activity that surrounds the transfer of goods, from consumer to buyer. This, for that. But we also pay with time, attention and love. And even when we pay with money, it’s rarely a ‘this, for that’ transaction, since all value is subjective.
It’s easy to fall in love with your idea, but as you do, it’s important to consider why someone will pay you with their time, attention, love or money, if you want that idea to create an impact in the world. In a world where the definition of value is changing, even big industries like music and publishing are having a hard time figuring this out.
First consider the reasons why your customers might pay you….
Necessity
Taxes, basic food and shelter.
Fear
Life insurance, private school fees.
Fear of missing out
Sales, special offers, peer pressure.
Convenience
Snack size, easy open, home delivery and on and on.
Perceived value
A coke at the cinema, is worth more to the popcorn eater than the coke that’s at home in the fridge.
Scarcity
There is no substitute. Johnny Depp, iPod, Sydney Opera House.
Belonging
Conferences, clubs, concerts, events and online programs.
A shortcut
PayPal, Slimfast, Google.
It feels good
Kickstarter, charity donations, volunteering, books.
To reinforce the story they tell themselves and those around them.
Starbucks, Jimmy Choo shoes, French champagne, organic vegetables, gym membership, Fair Trade, Beats by Dr Dre.
It turns out that transactions are a transfer of emotion, which means you can’t tell a story to the right customers, unless you understand the story they want to believe.
Which story should you be telling?
Image by Jose Quinteros.
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The Diminishing Value Of Access
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
When a new business opens in your suburb, the first thing they do, with great fanfare, is plaster ‘now open’ signs around the neighbourhood. The ‘we’ve built it, now you’ll come’ mentality is alive and well in every industry.
My son, along with thousands of others is in his first year at university. Most of his lectures are posted online, so he needs a good reason to spend an hour taking two buses and a train to get to lectures. Like many of his friends he shows up on the days when his mates will have the same two hours free mid afternoon, so they can hang out together after lectures. Many university students agree, that their real education no longer has to happen in a lecture theatre. The information isn’t more valuable because it’s delivered in person, by a guy wearing a blazer in a sandstone building.
Access to both information and stuff was scarce ten years ago. It’s not what’s valuable now. Just showing up, unlocking the door, putting on the conference or giving the lecture is no longer good enough. Access is no longer the point.
In a world where everything is a tap or a click away, what matters is not what is taught or sold, but how it’s delivered, and how that made someone feel as she walked out the door.
Image by Matt Jones.
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Don’t Sell A Man A Saw, Teach A Man To Build
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
Mike works at our local ‘big box’ hardware store, alongside people who cut wood, motion directions and stack paint cans. Each weekend Mike sees a steady stream of ‘have a go’ DIY enthusiasts, the kind of guys who were too busy on their way to becoming accountants and lawyers in their teens, to learn how to cut wood, drill holes or make things. Mike’s colleagues help them to pay for the things they say they want, and to load their cars with the things they’ve paid for.
Mike does things differently.
He never asks the customer what he wants, instead he asks,
“What do you want to do?”
Which is code for….
“What do you want to be?”
Then, and only then, does Mike help the guy to understand what he needs for the job, and why.
“Measure twice, cut once, take your time with it, and come back to me if you get stuck,” he says.
Mike doesn’t sell wood and saws, he makes each man the hero of his own story.
If you sell a man a saw, you’ve got the profit from one sale, when you make him a hero, you have a customer for life.
Image by Rachel Andrew.