Marketing Truths Every Business Owner Should Know

MARKETING TRUTHS EVERY BUSINESS OWNER SHOULD KNOW

We get it: this world of marketing can be pretty confusing. You may be overwhelmed with different techniques and strategies to get on top of your online marketing, everyone claiming to have “The Winning Formula” but how do you know which one is right for you?

Then you’re faced with All The Jargon tossed around by smug agencies to confuse and convince you to hand over your hard-earned ZAR. Like Steve Tobak said: “Marketing is like sex: Everyone thinks they’re good at it”.

Well, we’re here to cut through it all: we’re calling BS on the overwhelm. It’s really not that complicated, the jargon is unnecessary and you’re smarter than all that anyway.

The secret is to tap into what’s already within you and within your business: THAT’S the secret sauce of your marketing strategy.

So, let’s debunk some of the marketing truth-isms we get fed all the time, and get real about what good marketing is (and isn’t).

MARKETING TRUTH #1:

Traditional advertising doesn’t always work.

It is a fallacy that spending money on advertising always generates a return. The days of “spray & pray” advertising is over. TV & Radio ads, billboards, print ads: that’s what we grew up with, the “traditional” methods of advertising. Traditional marketing costs thousands to implement and is pretty much immeasurable. And the sad truth of it all? We as consumers are immune to being blasted with messaging that doesn’t resonate with us. We’re exposed to around 10,000 ads per day, and we’ve got used to blocking them out: We’re smarter, with less time and a lower tolerance for inane messaging.

So when DOES advertising work? Only when it is targeted, and authentic.

We’re driven by connection more than ever before. We relate to brands that serve us, stories that speak to us, and the people behind the scenes who make it real. With peer reviews and social proof being the foundation of businesses like Booking.com, Uber and Airbnb, there is nowhere for brands to hide. People buy based on recommendations. People buy from people.

This means, not only should you serve ads only to people who are likely to buy from you, you need to be transparent and authentic in your messaging when you do so. Your audience is intelligent, and they are very discerning about how they spend their money. 

According to GetFoundFast.com 50% of people check online reviews “most of the time” or “always,” but 55% of people say that they “rarely” or “never” leave a review. This statistic shows that people put a lot of weight on the content of online reviews but usually don’t feel inclined to leave one themselves. Businesses must therefore actively court reviews from all of their customers. Otherwise, they risk having their review score skewed in favor of people who tend to leave the most reviews: complainers.

When done right, online advertising and marketing can be organic, natural and authentic. When done right, you’re just telling your story to a tribe that wants to hear it.

Because your tribe matters. 

Which leads us to our next truth:

MARKETING TRUTH #2:

If you don’t find your niche, you cannot sustain growth

You’ve heard everyone talk about how important it is to find your niche. But, WHY?

As counterproductive as it may seem, the more narrow and focused your niche is, the more likely you are to build a tribe of avid fans of your brand.  Building a relationship with your prospects and leads, and bringing them into the fold, turning them into fans and loyal customers, is the purpose of marketing. 

Trust us: you can’t nor do you WANT to serve everyone. ‘Everyone’ are not your people. ‘Everyone’ consists of trolls and haters and cynics and people who just don’t get what you’re selling. If you found your customers through low-cost, quick, untargeted digital ads, they may be a lower-commitment breed than an audience that’s been strategically nurtured through a longer, more personalized, well-thought-out campaign.

We’ve personally seen this phenomenon that Rachel Greenberg talks about, in action: fickle, impulse-buying customers have no brand loyalty and are quick to return products, leave bad reviews, and dispute transactions… opting for a longer sales cycle, and more personalized campaigns, and further nurturing that audience and its brand loyalty can largely mitigate these negative encounters.

Understanding and defining your “tribe”, knowing who they are and how you can talk to them, makes everything so much easier – and more profitable. When you know who they are, and most importantly how you can SERVE them, most of your marketing job is already done. 

So here’s how to get clear on your Niche:
1. Get really granular on who you’re serving (your ideal client)
2. Understand what problem they are facing and how you can solve it
3. Explain how they will be changed as a result of using your product or service

Voilá! Now you’re selling to your biggest fans.

MARKETING TRUTH #3:

There is no USP in 2022

Your Unique Selling Proposition / Point is an old-school method of going to market. And yes, there is a lot to it: it’s understanding how what sets you apart from your competition, what makes your business a preferable choice and how you do things differently and better than the competition.

But here’s the stark reality: it’s 2022. The chances of you striking on a unique idea or way of doing things is really slim. I mean, don’t let me rain on your parade: if you are the next Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, then don’t let us stand in the way! But on the off chance that you aren’t Elon 2.0, creating a business or product that is unlike any other on the market is quite the challenge. As Entrepreneur.com put it: Innovators don’t reinvent the wheel. Great marketers tend to be innovators who turn inventions into things people can use. Marketing thrives on reusing ideas in new ways.

SO – here’s the kicker: there IS a way to go to market / advertise / create content and build your company that is guaranteed to be unlike anything else: BY TAPPING INTO ALL OF WHO YOU ARE.

There have to be elements of YOU in the marketing of your brand, or it won’t feel authentic to the people who know you.

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you”
– Dr. Seuss

We’ve spoken about this often: People don’t buy products. They buy people, and stories, and connection. When done well, storytelling can do wonders for a business. It will ultimately maximize your business’s visibility, profit, and impact.⁠ It can turn a brand into a legacy. ⁠ Apart from just focusing on why customers should buy a product, brands need to share the story behind their brand, why it exists, and why this matters, consistently across all communication platforms.⁠ Telling a story consumers can relate to and that allows them to see why they cannot live without your product or service, or how much better they’d be off with your product or service. That is the power of good storytelling. ⁠

Here’s how to discover your *personal* USP that will make your brand and business stand out from its competitors:

Write down ALL the aspects that make you, you: your hobbies, interests, passions, values, personality traits (good and bad)

Delve into your story: what life experiences do you have that make you relatable?

Lean in. Be honest, be vulnerable, tell your story.

What about *YOU* made you fall in love with the idea of your business and how are *YOU* shaping what your business is becoming.

MARKETING TRUTH #4:

Selling doesn’t have to be Sleazy

When I mention SALES, do you picture used-car salesmen or cold calling (with no offense to either of those professions!), or break out in hives and want to hide under the nearest table? When I mention selling in your business, does your throat close up and your brain shut down?

We get it.  The traditional idea of selling and sales is gross. It’s sleazy and uncomfortable. BUT, we’re here to tell you that selling doesn’t have to be sleazy. In fact, here’s a truth bomb: if you do it right, then selling is just serving. Let’s repeat that: SELLING IS JUST SERVING. 

As this Medium.com article says: We all just want easier lives. So we buy dishwashers we can load and leave to do the dirty work. We buy washing machines so we don’t have to clean our clothes by hand. So, as a brand or business: If you’re selling something that makes someone’s life easier, you’re serving.

BUT – you can’t expect people to buy from you when you don’t tell them what it is you sell and how it can help them. Because, you are helping them, right? You are making their lives easier or better, right? You did start a business because underneath it all you want to serve, right?

You can only sell what people already want. If they are not convinced that they need something, no one will change their mind. So, take the guilt and the shame out of selling. If you want to sell a product or a service to people, you’re just nudging them to do what they already want to do.

When you sell something that makes someone’s life better, you’re doing good work.

So, go forth and serve! You are allowed to be paid highly for your products or services. You are allowed to do good work AND make good money. Tell your story, make connections, build your tribe, make a difference and tell people how you can help. They deserve to know. The world deserves your brand of brilliance.

With a bit of practice, you can start weaving selling into your messaging like it aint no thang! Coz trust us, it really isn’t.

If this resonates with you, then get in touch and let us know how we can help. 

Some bonus truths you have to keep in mind:

💡 Online marketing is not a campaign, it’s a commitment. 

We get it: Most small business owners prefer not to work this way. They want to establish baseline practices and stick to them. BUT – digital marketing and advertising is always-on and never done. You need to sustain and grow your tribe, keeping them engaged and loyal through customized and personalised content and touch points.

💡 Your email database is your precious commodity:

Email marketing is more powerful than it’s ever been. The past decade saw a record amount of new technologies emerge, making this one of the most exciting decades for marketers in recent memory. It is cost effective⁠, easy to implement and⁠ highly profitable.⁠

💡 You don’t need to be on each social media channel.

If you don’t have time to manage each channel the way it deserves, then stop adding new channels. It’s acceptable to pick your top two or three channels and spend time there. Each channel has its own purpose and tone.

💡 More content does not equal more connections

There are a lot of people just producing regurgitated noise and hoping it’s going to stick. Your content needs to be original, authentic and valuable to your audience

💡 You don’t need a big budget to create a big buzz.

With smart planning, the right strategy and expert targeting, businesses can successfully create a groundswell of customer excitement and viral demand for a product that nobody’s ever heard of. And it CAN be done on a shoestring budget. 

💡 You cannot thrive unless you analyse

We cannot stress this enough: you have to actively measure your digital marketing performance and learn from it, in order to sustain growth. You have to establish benchmark metrics, set goals to improve them, experiment, and then measure the results. Achieving consistent success is not a reason to sit back and relax. Instead, you have to be prepared for ongoing changes and shifts that naturally occur.