GarthBox

Really, though, what’s the status of the people you’re trying to change?

Are they trying to maintain their status? Are they trying to move up in status? Move down?

Everything one purchases is either to reaffirm they’re in the right place, to elevate where they stand or it’s to help them down a rung.

Many times, a business markets products that are all over the place in terms of influence on status. They try to upsell someone who wants to move down in their status and they ignore the person trying to move up.

It’s worth noting that the status they have is typically held in a small circle. People don’t go with the larger flow, they go with the flow of a very small tribe of people just like them.

Learn about the group, learn about their status and you’ll learn how to deliver the right message to the right people.

 

Stay Positive & Status Check

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It’s one thing to list who your target is, but it’s another to list who your target isn’t.

It’s one thing to list why someone should choose your product or service, but it’s another to list why they choose someone else.

It’s one thing to list the worldviews of those you want to impact, but it’s another to list the worldviews of those you don’t.

A coin is only valuable if we look at both sides.

 

Stay Positive & Paint The Whole Picture

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On the path to more effective marketing, your greatest asset is your imagination.

To imagine the life of someone else. What they woke up struggling with. What they think their friends think of them. Why they chose to wear the shoes they wear. What their parents told them when they were younger.

The closer we can get to the target, their worldview and how they feel, the more we can talk with, not at them. The closer we get, the less we market and the more we converse and connect.

Who are you trying to reach?

 

Stay Positive & Who Are They Really?

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Crowded brain.

That’s what we’re dealing with.

Everywhere we go there are ads, brands shouting, noise between our ears.

That’s why positioning must exist. What positioning is is shaping an idea so that it can be placed next to something familiar that people already understand and agree with.

It’s not your job to persuade someone that your brand is something in particular. Your job is to get someone to think of you when they think of something in particular.

It’s an association, not a domination.

By pointing out something they already know and believe, you can begin to build a story that fits in an available slot, nudged up by something they’re already comfortable with in their worldview.

For amateur marketers, you fill a spot with talk about a product or service as faster, better, fresher, safer, stronger. But that’s not what people really want. They want something deeper, a feeling.

The answer, of course, is complicated, but when you lean into empathy, the realities of what you’re marketing and what your target is looking for become clearer.

It’s worth remember that you are not your target. Your target is someone else who sees the world differently.

Here’s a quick test to learn more about positioning: If you organized a blind test of what you offer with what others like you offer, why would someone still choose you?

As good as it feels to hear, it’s not because you’re better. It’s deeper than that.

 

Stay Positive & What Does “Better” Really Mean?

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Empathy is a way to travel the world from where you’re at. And just with traveling to a foreign, unfamiliar country, empathy is uncomfortable. It might even feel awkward having to set aside your worldview for that of another who didn’t grow up the way you grew up and doesn’t think the way you think. But it’s necessary to market effectively.

Having empathy is about understanding how to talk with someone, not advertise to them. Empathy is about building trust, not getting attention. Empathy is about connecting, not selling.

If you were to tell your target, “I see you.” What does that mean? How do they see the world? How do they really feel about the promise you’ve made?

It’s not that customers don’t know what you know. It’s that they don’t care about what you care about. They don’t see the world in the same way. And most importantly, they’re not going to–that’s your job, to meet them on their turf.

 

Stay Positive & Spend A Day In Their Shoes, It Will Change (Improve) Everything You Do

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At the heart of any business and of any marketing is a promise.

There’s the transactional promise that’s often stated. This for that. $499 for the premium package.

Then, and ultimately more meaningful, there is the implicit promise. The unmeasurable and often emotional impact you’re creating.

The promise for one bar might be that you can enjoy a beer in a space that’s like having it at home.

The promise for Pinterest might be that you can discover more of what you already love.

What’s your explicit promise? What’s your implicit promise?

 

Stay Positive & There’s Always Something Beyond A Transaction

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To make messaging that matters for your target, you have to go beyond understanding demographics into comprehending their psychographics.

Three lists that are worth making:

1. What are the desires of your target?
2. What are their frustrations?
3. What types of personalities do they have?

Almost as important as who you are trying to change is who you’re willing to leave out.

What are their desires, frustrations and personalities?

 

Stay Positive & Write’em Out And Share Them With Me If You Want (thegarthbox@gmail.com)

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