Outside Of Experience

Garth Beyer

Marketing anything outside of your own experience puts you at a disadvantage.

Working with a non-profit? Go on site. Field some calls. Go to the country you’re trying to provide water for.

Working for Chobani? You better have had some, shared some with a friend, and tested all the flavors. Not having done so sets you way back in understanding the buyer persona.

Marketing is as much about experiencing new things yourself as it is getting others to.

One of the most frustrating things growing up is when I would talk about a particular movie with a  friend and that friend would try to converse with me about it without ever seeing it themselves. Is that how you want to fuel your marketing?

 

Stay Positive & Become The Persona

Dancing Personas

Garth Beyer

Personas are built, not bred.

Marketers establish their buyers’ persona to give them direction on how to communicate.

Kids establish their everything is silly and cute persona to get out of spilling the cup of juice you gave them in the pool.

I’ve established this persona of allowing myself to be vulnerable so it makes it easier to ship something each day.

Personas are incredibly interesting because they are ever-changing, always dancing. We, as marketers and as people, have the ability to influence the persona of others, but we’re also forced to update our persona when it doesn’t work anymore.

Leaving direct mail on the doorway handles of people’s homes used to work for a construction business. It fit their buyer’s persona…until it didn’t. Same with the kid and his juice. Silly and cute only works for so long. And it will be interesting to see if being vulnerable ever stops working for me. (I assume it will once it becomes constantly expected.)

While no persona lasts forever, we have a say in the longevity of it for ourselves and others.

I have a young friend who you would think is an old man by how much he aches, complains, and doesn’t care what comes out of his mouth. Not to mention how slow he drives. Since his friends (including myself) always call him a geezer and point out all the things that make him an old man, he continues to fill the shoes of that persona.

Michael and I chatted about this phenomena on our podcast (episode 9) when discussing why people become referees. Since recognizing my influence, I’ve started pointing out all the things that make my friend young and I holler at those who feed his old man persona.

Personas are simply a new name for category, and humans are naturally categorical in thinking, in acting, in deciding to buy product X or product Z, but they don’t often realize it.

Being the best you, making a positive impact on others, and crafting the greatest marketing message is almost all rooted in your understanding of the personas of those you’re engaging with as well as yourself.

 

Stay Positive & Now You Know, Leverage It

Who Decided This?

Garth Beyer

When someone walks through your agency, reviews your strategy plan, considers purchasing your product, can they answer this question?

Do they know who decided to have yellow lights instead of white lights in the chandelier? Do they know who decided to pitch magazine publications instead of Television news outlets?

Next, is that person accessible?

Ignorance is more rooted in not having a pathway for feedback to the person who made the decision than it is them not caring in the first place.

One of my colleagues sets the work flow up perfectly for the team. She says, “Garth, I want you to own this.” If anything were to go wrong, everyone knows who decided it and they have my contact info.

On the other hand, when I go to the bathroom and see the toilet paper isn’t on the right way or when I walk to the bank and I try pushing the door open when it’s meant to be pulled, who can I talk to about that?

 

In a world packed with designers and decision makers, are you making it clear to the customer, the viewer, the attendee, the visitor who decided X or Y or Z?

 

Stay Positive & Communicate Who Owns It And How To Reach Them

Moments Of Downtime

Garth Beyer

The motto, “how do you act when no one is looking” has sort-of run dry. With how plugged in we are, we know someone is always watching, we just care a little less or call making a Facebook post being productive.

Better to ask what one does when one has a moment of downtime. When there’s five minutes that no one is emailing you, the phone’s not ringing, you just wrapped up your latest task… what do you do then? I think that’s way more predictive of a person’s character than what they are doing when no one is watching.

Do you let the opportunity to start a new venture pass you up? Do you scroll through twitter instead of writing a thank-you letter to someone special?

 

Stay Positive & Downtime Is An Opportunity, Not A Break

 

You’re Not Charging Enough

Garth Beyer

I get asked a lot if a price someone is charging is enough.

“Should the app just be free?” “How much should the admissions ticket be, I was thinking $10.” “I really want to work with this client, should I lower my price?”

More often than not, I get a “Oh… Really?” response when I tell them they’re not charging enough. That is, until I explain why they’re not charging enough.

When I worked with my dad in his painting and remodeling business, I learned there were often jobs he had to bid for. Did he lower his price to compete with other bids? Or did he keep it high, reflective of the quality of work he would produce?

It was more of a question about the fan base he wanted, not how much money he would make. Often times he would bid a higher price to decipher whether the business was a raving fan or not. (Better to work for a fan, a friend than someone who feels they’re in a position to constantly criticize.)

Imagine Dragons can charge $300+ a ticket because they don’t need to allow critics in their concert. The price you charge is the first gateway to deciding what audience you’ll attract. Quite simply, a low price exposes you and your art to people who may not be avid fans. Is that what you want?

Free can help you in some ways. Free can attract the mass. But free won’t get you where you want to go in the world of your craft.

 

Stay Positive & So, Yes, You’re Not Charging Enough

 

Your Heart Has Eyes

Garth Beyer

Visual acuity isn’t enough in relationships. It’s not enough when solving problems (or creating new ones). It’s not enough when setting out to create your own business.

Greatness can easier be claimed once intimacy is accepted, engaged, brought forth.

When all we look at is what’s in front of us, we miss a lot.

A co-worker of mine is incredible at being intimate. I always say she has two sets of eyes. One set to see what’s in front of her and one to see how what’s in front of her is. It’s a second, deeper level of seeing.

We can open our eyes, but the best work gets done when we open the eyes of our hearts.

 

Stay Positive & There’s Always More To See (No Microscope Or Telescope Needed)

Precision Dating

Garth Beyer

The best thing you can do for yourself, your customer, and your colleague is give a precise date.

“I’ll have it to you by noon Thursday.”

“We’ll have this podcast wrapped up by 7:20.”

“Someone from our customer service team will get back to you tomorrow, at the latest.”

Setting a date guarantees urgency, shows you care, and holds you accountable.

 

Stay Positive & No More “You’ll Hear Back Soon” Crud