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MARKETING 101
Tuesday Apr. 25, 2017
I’m a marketer, been selling goods, services and ideas since I was 17. Selling has changed, as have ways people buy. But selling hasn’t changed nearly as much as it could, or should – and old-school thinkers who dialed-for-dollars, cold called and worked mailing lists like there was not tomorrow, well there is not much …
Tomorrow arrived.
It’s today.
Relationship, value-add, connection – these buzz words now permeate the landscape along with permission-based, optimization and tribes. Old-schoolers are growing their appreciation for relationships but don’t know so much how to build them. New-schoolers, both young-uns, and tech-world folks are using the best fast tools invented last week … but they miss the connection part methinks.
Story. That’s important, and often valuable to explain a service or function of products and processes, but the story most marketers for get is ‘his-story’.
That history story, means people have experience with you – and you with them, you’ve been through things before, conquered some mountains and valleys together – and still want to do business, not that’s a relationship, that’s the story.
But seriously, whether you are selling nuclear power plants or bargaining with a two-year old, the principles of selling something, or selling an idea, is predicated upon two things; the first is a ‘know me, like me, trust me’ factor, and the second more elusive part is ‘they want to have a relationship with you’. If these two ingredients aren’t present, then the only way to ‘make the sale’ is when someone is buying out of necessity. Then, you can understand the first sale – and absolutely not expect a second one …
No mystery.
Just story.
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