“You might not get the customers you deserve, but you will probably end up with the customers you attract.”
What a gem of a comment from Seth Godin. Go on, read it again.
So, who are you trying to attract? I bet you’re thinking about the customers that appreciate the hours you’ve put in. The customers that don’t quibble about price. The customers that give you the least hassle.
Many a business founder will talk about the way the industry is changing. How it’s becoming more cut-throat out there. How business just isn’t the same now that (thanks to the Internet) all the competition seem to focus upon is price.
Many a business founder believes, and rightly so, that their product is still the best on the market.
So, you’re in a position where you have your ideal customer and there’s the reality of the customers you’re attracting.
The fault? We can place that squarely in the lap of marketing. Make no bones about it, marketing is the wrapper that sets expectation for the value of what’s inside.
Cheap paper? Crap present.
Want to get inspired? Take a look at how one business is selling $260 bars of chocolate. Think they’re concerned about their direct competitors? Do you think direct competitors exist? No, the problem they need to overcome is the justification of expense. How do they do it? Do they tell you about how much greater their product is than the Snickers bar? No, they look to markets where people are already spending $260 on luxury items. Wine connoisseurs. Clever move, isn’t it? Their website is gold-strand paper around a fine fine present.
They sell the story.
That’s how you’re learn to differentiate from the rest. You understand the story so far. What you’ve created and how that fits into the lives of your audience. Customers don’t mind spending more when they know they’re receiving more. That’s the way we work. The secret is demonstrating what ‘more’ represents. Figuratively and literally.
To attract the customers that you believe you deserve you make your own market. You shift out of the black and white of your industry and build in the grey area in between. That’s where success will come. That’s where you’ll attract success. By creating your market, not competing within a market.
Your story.
Your people.
Your ideals.
Your perspective.
Your journey.
Those are the ingredients that differentiate you. Face-value marketing (this is us, this what we do) is redundant in the face of possibility-led marketing (sharing what can be achieved).
Go try it.
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