Search Results: why this, why you, why now
What Does It Take To Be In The 1%?
filed in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Strategy
”99% of ”brands” are about as inspiring, interesting, and enlightening as a cup of lukewarm tea. Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be.”
-Umair Haque
So the good news then is that it’s not that hard to be the 1%!
I asked Umair what he thought it took to be in the 1 %. He said;
”It takes thinking hard about creating authentic, enduring, ’meaningful value’ and doing stuff that matters.”
Creating meaningful value goes beyond focusing on the material transaction. It’s about building ‘intangible worth’ into everything you do because that’s what people care about now. Not, ”why do I need this thing?” but, ”is this something I care about?” or, “does this make a difference to me enough to deserve my time, attention or money?”
Meaningful value is Seth helping people to solve problems every day on his blog for over a decade. Innocent delivering joy alongside drinks. Lululemon creating a community and connections for yoga lovers. Chris showing people how they can live the life they want.
This is what the 1% looks like.
How could you be in the 1% for your readers, clients and customers?
Image by Eric Magnuson.
Selling The Benefits
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
Tell stories, don’t write descriptions.
Speak to hearts, not minds.
Paint a picture of the effect.
Tap into the senses.
Illustrate the impact.
Describe the joy, the relief, the pleasure.
Give people a reason to care.
Show them how you’re different.
Then let them know why it matters.
Image by Cliff Ravenscraft.
Apple’s Not-So-Secret Marketing Secret
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
Why would anyone buy a 13 inch MacBook Air?
Why not buy the Pro? It’s faster, has more memory, it’s actually only 700 grams heavier and .7cm thicker (or 2.4cm ‘thin’ in Applespeak) and it costs exactly the same.
Why pay a chunk of cash for less of something?
When I asked my Twitter friends who had one they talked about needing something ultra-portable, fast, lightweight (although they weren’t sure exactly how much lighter it was). One had blogged about the Air’s “Awwwww” factor.
The 13 inch MacBook Air is a classic example of the illogical purchasing decisions we make every day. It offers less of everything for roughly the same price. Less memory and less storage. It’s slower and has a shorter battery life. But who wouldn’t want to own “The world’s thinnest notebook”?
According to Harvard marketing professor Gerald Zaltman a tiny fraction of our decisions, just 5%, are based on logic. The truth is people aren’t buying your specifications and your facts.
The path to success is littered with great ideas poorly marketed, but armed with this knowledge Apple succeeds by marketing to the whole customer. By giving us products we love as much as our cat, and making us want them by understanding our heart’s desires, then telling us that story.
Image by rando mix.
Being The Best
When I was a kid growing up in Dublin we always sat on the top deck of the bus on a Saturday evening coming home from a day in the city. As we passed Christchurch Cathedral we pressed our noses to the window and looked out at the long queue which snaked half way down Werburgh Street. The crowd didn’t just gather on Saturday either. They lined up every night at Leo Burdocks take away fish and chip shop.
A Dublin institution which first opened its doors in 1913, Burdocks has survived wars, uprising, recessions and outlived the Celtic Tiger. Celebrities from U2 to Liam Neeson have lined up to sample the secret batter recipe from the most lauded chipper in Ireland.
I’m sure Leo knew he had a great product when he started out all those years ago. The best.
He just had to figure out a way to let his customers know that too. So in the absence of billboards, TV, AdSense, Google or Groupon he just set about being the best.
He didn’t have to be the best to the well heeled barristers who could afford to head out from their Georgian homes in Fitzwilliam Square to dine at the Gresham Hotel. He just needed to work at understanding what ’best’ was to the aul fella who would buy a battered cod every Saturday night on the way back from the pub. Or what would make the young housewife dig deep into her purse on a Thursday pay day for a little treat for the family.
With that understanding Burdock could not only become the best, he could also communicate why he was the best to the people who mattered.
That same opportunity is open to every single brand. And you.
Image by Conor Larkin.
Create What People Can’t Live Without — 8 Questions To Ask Before Launching An Idea
Where would you be without your laptop, smart phone, Google, take away coffee cups and quick drying nail polish? While you’re busy navigating your day today, think about what you couldn’t live without, the stuff that makes your life that little bit easier. All those things you didn’t even realise you needed, until someone brought them to market.
Every product or service ever created was born from a problem that needed to be solved, or a desire that was waiting to be fulfilled.
An understanding of the problem to solve is the reason we have online check in, Boost Juice and The Genius Bar. So how do you begin to understand the problem to solve? You stand in your customer’s shoes, see her world as it is and then create a better version of it.
That’s how a Sydney Mum invented GameTag and why Starbucks became ‘the third place’.
8 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU LAUNCH AN IDEA
1. Why this product or service and why now?
2. Who am I creating this for?
3. What’s the competition?
4. Do I need to worry about the competition?
5. How is this different and better?
6. How do I research, test, launch, market, distribute, sell, build and scale?
7. Do I need to research, test, and scale or should I just press go?
8. How will I know when I’ve succeeded?
Do you have any stories to share about great products and services that came about through standing in the customer’s shoes, impeccable planning or just starting?
Image by 37prime.
9 Elements Of The Perfect Pitch
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
This image was captured in Marrakech at the largest open air market in Africa. On the day the photo was taken the market was apparently in full swing, complete with everything from average snake charmers, to exceptional orange juicers and trinket traders. The photographer captures how many of the tourists seem to be more interested in their maps and to do lists than the sights, sounds, and the smells of the bazaar.
It doesn’t matter how good your idea is if nobody knows. If you want to make your idea matter, then you’ll need to get better at helping people to understand it why it should.
9 ELEMENTS OF THE PERFECT PITCH
Preparation
It’s hard to sell anything without having a plan and putting some effort in beforehand. Even the guy who walks up to a girl in a bar has put on a clean shirt and rehearsed what he’s going to say.
Emotion
A pitch is based less on logic and more on tapping into emotions. It’s less about presenting information and more about persuading people deep down. Studies from the Journal of Advertising Research show that we are twice as likely to be persuaded by emotion than facts. You must make people care before you can persuade them to believe.
Story and Substance
Delivery is important but falls flat without a great story. The words you use and the stories you tell matter.
Passion
You’re not simply asking people to buy your idea, you’re persuading them to ‘buy into’ it, and you. This will not happen if you can’t communicate your genuine passion to the audience.
A Problem
Understand the problem you solve and communicate that.
An Answer
You’ve demonstrated that you know what the problem is, now reveal your valuable solution.
Simplicity
You’ve got nine seconds to convince them that you are the one. Don’t overload people with information, concentrate on what really matters to them.
Confidence
You’re asking people to bet on you, to embrace the fact that there is not certainty in most decisions they make. If you don’t believe in yourself and your idea how can you expect others to?
Practice
Delivery is part science, part theatre, part art, it can be learned with practice.
What would you add? What has worked best for you in situations where you wanted to persuade?
What If Post-it Told A Different Story?
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
Everyone knows what Post-its do. You know they come in every colour, all sorts of shapes and sizes, easy peel and super sticky. And yet Post-it keeps telling you that stuff in its marketing. They tell you the things you already know about features and benefits. Stories that don’t mean much, that any brand could tell. The what not the why.
What if Post-it told the story from the inside out? What if 3M tapped into the meaning being made with its products, by showing you how and why Post-its are part of your story too?
We don’t simply want to benefit from the products we use, we want to believe in them too.
*Bonus brand strategy for 3M and Post-it*
Sign up for an account on Instagram and check out the 5,000+ stories being told about how people believe in your products there.
Image By Lia C
The Secret To Creating Products People Buy
The secret to the success of Facebook, Pampers, Innocent drinks, Instagram, Basecamp, Little Miss Match, Marie Forleo.com and on and on, comes down to one thing. The ability to stand in the customer’s shoes and see the world from where they are at.
Have you questioned what you client’s worldview is lately?
- What’s important to your customers right now?
- What are they excited about?
- What are they struggling with?
- What would they kill to know?
- What stops them achieving their dreams?
- What do they crave or covet?
- Why do they need you?
- What will they gladly pay for?
- How can you be part of their journey today?
- What might they need tomorrow?
Your business is built on the foundations of your story. Great products and services are created by understanding the essence of that story.
Image by Noukka Signe.
What For What
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
I gave, now it’s your turn.
Quid pro quo.
Now we’re even.
That’s how business is supposed to work.
Exchanges of like for like.
A trade.
Transfer of ownership.
Profit and loss.
Transactions that can be measured.
There’s no room for generosity in business.
Unless it’s your business.
Because that’s how you’ve designed it and that is who you are.
This doesn’t mean you give away the farm or work for coffee.
It means you practice wholeheartedness.
You work with integrity from a place of intention.
Stand up for what you believe in.
Make sure that every interaction is one that you are proud of.
Walk in your client’s shoes.
Because you can.
And because you recognise that doing business doesn’t mean you have to live by a what for what ideology.
Image by Amy Lloyd.
If : A Love Note To Entrepreneurs
filed in Entrepreneurship, Worldview
If you’re doing your best work.
If you touched one person.
If it makes a difference to a handful.
If you’re building a legacy, not just an empire.
If your values are front and centre.
If you’re launching ideas from the heart.
If you understand why you’re doing this.
If it doesn’t have to matter to everyone.
If you care.
If you can see the world as it isn’t.
If passion is your master.
If possibility feeds your soul.
If meaning is your currency.
If you embrace failure alongside success.
If permission doesn’t get in your way.
If understanding the problem to solve matters.
If people are your inspiration.
If you could change one thing.
If you know the questions to ask and aren’t afraid of the answers.
If you could ask for anything today, would ‘this’ be it?
If not this, then what?
Image by Tram Painter.