Unlock the Magic in Your Story Now
Get the Free 20 questions to Ask Before Launching Your Idea workbook when you sign up for occasional updates.
Get the Free 20 questions to Ask Before Launching Your Idea workbook when you sign up for occasional updates.
Articles filed in: Strategy
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.
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.
The Purpose Of Innovation In A ‘Needless’ Economy
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
For the most part in the West we have everything we need. Roofs over our heads, food in the fridge and a lot more besides. Even in the developing world where more people have mobile phones than have access to toilets, it seems that sometimes ‘wants’ trump real needs.
So, if we have everything we need and it’s mostly ‘good enough’, what’s the purpose of of innovation?
As an innovator, or bringer of ideas to the world you need to make things that add meaning to peoples’ lives. Things that change how people feel first, which in turn changes what they do, and what they come to expect and embrace.
In the year 2000 all earphones were functional and black. When Apple simply changed them from black to white in 2001 earbuds became a symbol of belonging to the iPod tribe. White earbuds were not a commodity. They were a status symbol. The product had barely been altered, and yet the story had changed entirely.
In the ‘needless’ economy the job of innovation isn’t to make something new, it’s to make something that matters.
Image by Lauren.
6 Ways To Become Part Of Your Customer’s Story
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Think about the rituals that punctuate your days. Freshly boiled water poured over scented tea, your morning workout, or favourite mug. The ten minutes you use to brainstorm ideas in Evernote, checking emails, or meeting colleagues at lunchtime, your ring tone, playlist, date night….each one adding another layer of meaning to your day, becoming part of your story.
When we have ideas, make things, produce, sell and serve, we often begin by trying to work out how to get ‘our thing’ into the hands or inboxes of more people. The better strategy might be to work out how to punctuate the right person’s day and deliver one moment of anticipated joy or welcome interruption?
This kind of thinking is how Starbucks made a $4 coffee part of the story of millions of people.
How might you do that?
1. Create a great product, service or content that people enjoy using or coming back for.
Instagram, Amazon, Dropbox and Gala Darling.
2. Change how people feel in the moment.
Starbucks, copy on packaging like Nudie juices and Airbnb wish lists.
3. Solve a problem (maybe one people didn’t even know they had).
Evernote, 7 minute workout app and Canva.
4. Give people a story to tell themselves.
Macarons, Kickstarter, and yes even a commodity like milk.
5. Notice what people already do and work out ways that you can either disrupt, or become part of those rituals.
Warby Parker, Zappos and YouTube.
6. Make it easy for them to come back.
Dollar Shave Club, The Period Store and Netflix.
Image by LDRose.
How have you found a way to become part of your customer’s story?
A Better Business In 5 Minutes And 3 Easy Steps
I promised three steps and here they are:
1. Grab a drink, a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Switch off your phone and shut your laptop.
2. Now answer this question.
“What will your customer say to her friend tomorrow to recommend you, or your products and services?”
Don’t respond to anyone else’s emergency until you’ve answered this question and written it down.
3. Then go do what you have to do to make her say that.
*Bonus*—If you need a helping hand the audiobook of ‘The Fortune Cookie Principle’ is now available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes for less than the price of a coffee.
Image by Matt.
People Don’t Buy Features, They Buy Promises
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
Every day another product, tool or app comes to market. One more shortcut to this or that.
Want to save lists, share something, buy, sell, store, capture, talk, listen, watch, wake up or waste time? There’s definitely a feature filled app that can help you do that.
As marketers we often get bogged down in the features and benefits of what it is we have to offer. We get stuck at the telling people what it does part.
But here’s the thing, deep down most people don’t care about what the features enable them to do.
Because people don’t want to ‘do’ they want to ‘be’. They want to be less busy and more productive, less alone and more connected, less fearful and feel more safe.
People don’t buy features, they buy promises.
So, don’t tell me what you do. Make me a promise you can keep.
Image by Walt Jabsco.
No Second Chances
The beautiful city were I live is not known for startling customer service. Sad, but true. I think it might be the side effect of a combination of distance and isolation creating monopolies that have endured, making people complacent. When you were four hours on a plane from anywhere before the Internet there weren’t many options.
A true story from last weekend.
It was a glorious Sunday afternoon by the beach. One of the local hotels has spent millions renovating their tired building and we thought we’d check it out over a coffee while admiring the ocean view. There were about six people in the bar and one bar man who doubled as a barista.
He looked really unhappy to see us and told us just as much.
“If you’re looking for coffee it will be a long wait.
I have seven coffee orders already.
There are plenty of cafes along the strip.”
I’m not paraphrasing!
Things are changing, the Internet means we don’t always have to go to the world for what we want. Now it comes to us. Including things like half decent coffee that feels like an experience.
Order a dress for tonight’s party in the morning and it’s delivered within three hours.
When everything is a tap and swipe away second chances are becoming few and far between.
It’s up to you to behave like there were no second chances, because that’s the reality.
Image by adnamayy.
Tiny Markets Of Someone
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
Mr Ryan owned a corner shop in the tiny Dublin suburb where I grew up. It supported his family and employed his children while they studied for over 20 years. He didn’t seem to worry when yet another big supermarket opened close by. Sure, he knew some of his customers would go there for special offers, but he also knew that he wasn’t after the ‘market of everyone’. He didn’t need everyone to keep going, he just needed to matter to enough people, by doing things the big guys couldn’t do.
When industry and innovation became very focused on the metric of more, we lost sight of the fact that more wasn’t always the best place to start. And then ironically the Internet, which could help us to reach everyone, made us realise that there were ‘tiny markets of someone’. As Seth Godin pointed out in a recent and brilliant (as always) talk the bell curve has melted. Not only is there no longer a mass market, but most of the successful companies, game-changing innovations and products and services we care about were designed to cater for people at the edges.
How did a tiny yogurt company compete with industry giants who had twenty times their budget and controlled two-thirds of the market? In five years, Chobani went from having almost no revenue to selling a predicted $1 billion worth of yogurt in 2013. They started at the edges, doing things the bigger brands were not prepared to do, for people that wanted difference.
Airbnb went from appealing to people at the edges (who would want to share a stranger’s apartment?), to having over 300,000 listings worldwide in 33,000 cities and booking 10 million nights in 192 countries within 5 years.
Method entered the household cleaner market which was dominated by big players like P&G, and differentiated at the edges on results, safety, sustainability, design, and scent. The company achieved over 500% growth in just 3 years.
Can you name any brand that’s gained loyalty, love and traction over the past decade that didn’t begin at the edges? Red Bull, Facebook, zipcar, TED, Kickstarter, Instagram, Spanx, Starbucks, Warby Parker, Zappos, Kindle, Innocent, PayPal, TaskRabbit, Green & Blacks, even Amazon and Apple didn’t begin by targeting the market of everyone.
The truth is that ‘the masses’ don’t want to feel like ‘the masses’. They want to discern. To choose. To be seen. To matter. Your customers don’t want to be just anyone, they want to be someone.
Image by erban.
The Best Brands Are Mirrors
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
The genius of the ‘Dove Sketches’ campaign wasn’t that it highlighted the issues women have around body image and beauty, it was that it held a mirror up to every one of us. It tapped into our collective vulnerability on a visceral level.
Brands like Dove, Instagram, Harley-Davidson, Virgin, Nike, Moleskine, Dyson, Brene Brown, Apple, Tiffany, Airbnb, Red Bull, my BodyPump instructor Duane and your local organic butcher, shift our perception about what’s possible for us. The real reason we come back to them again and again has less to do with how well they work and more to do with the way they change how we feel by degrees.
The best brands reflect our potential back to us. They resonate with us not necessarily because they sell the best products, but because they help us to see the best in ourselves.
Image by Ivana Vasilj.
5 Questions To Ask Before You Schedule A Meeting That Matters
Have you ever been on a Skype call where you could hear the person on the other end trying to quietly eat their lunch in the background? Don’t ever do that. Firstly it’s bad for your digestion, and honestly if you don’t make yourself have a break to eat, what’s the point of getting out of bed in the morning.
This might sound obvious but the real reason you shouldn’t multi-task during meetings is not just that it’s incredibly disrespectful to the other person, but by not making time to give someone your full attention you’re signalling your intention. You’re reflecting to the person this doesn’t matter, and worse still that they don’t matter. That’s how your actions make them feel. The result is your attitude sucks all of the life out of the meeting and shapes the outcome—probably not for the better.
There is an alternative, honest course of action to take and five questions to ask yourself before you schedule a meeting that matters.
1. Why are we having this meeting?
Is the point to manage or to lead? I’m not sure you need to meet to manage.
2. Do I really want to speak to, connect with, change this person?
Be honest with yourself. Spend time with people you want to make a difference to.
If you have no choice (the boss said so) understand that your intention affects the outcome.
3. Am I treating my colleague like I would want them to treat me?
My friend Moe makes each person he connects with feel like they were the only person he wanted to hear from today and all of that gets reflected back to him.
4. What value am I adding by being in the room?
Bringing your whole self into the room (even if it’s virtual) ignites things.
You might find it makes for a more productive and rewarding experience for you too.
5. Could we do this by email?
If you can’t attend the meeting with the right intention group email might be the way to go.
There’s something incredibly rare about a person or business that says, “we are jumping out of our skin to talk to, or work with you”…as long as they mean it. Yes, meetings have a practical purpose, of course we need to get projects managed and to-dos checked off, but not at the price of losing our humanity.
If you scheduled it make it matter.
Image by Francois Hollande.