Your Marketing Doesn’t Work Because You’re Afraid To Showcase How You’re Different

There are two things that make marketing very effective. Unfortunately so many businesses, especially smaller businesses, only focus on one part. We focus so much on the tactics and tools of marketing, which are important, but we don’t spend enough time on the MESSAGE of what makes us different.

We spend more time trying to figure out Clubhouse but instead, we should spend time understanding what makes us different and speaking to the right audience to receive our message.

My friend Loren Feldman, host of the 21 Hats podcast had a powerful discussion with two other business owners, here. They were explaining that once they fine-tuned their marketing to further bring out WHY THEY WERE DIFFERENT and hone in on truly who they were, the results of their marketing changed.

In fact I only recently started to do this for SmartHustle, we put VERY clearly, right at the top, who we serve, how we do it and why.

Are you afraid

What about you? Are you afraid to “put a line in the sand” and call out who you are for – and who you are not for?

So many accountants say “we help small businesses”. That’s nice, but what about taking things even a step further, what type of small businesses?

Yes, we know you can probably help ANY small business, but why not get even more clear on the TYPE of small business owner you can help and clearly say this in your marketing message.

Tactics vs Messaging

In Loren’s discussion they say:

Marketers were just doing stuff: making websites, creating new logos, running social media campaigns, and sometimes that stuff worked. And other times, it really wasn’t producing any kind of tangible results that the owner could see.

And more importantly, they weren’t connecting to the owners vision and purpose. So that was problem number one.

And then problem number two is that the owners themselves actually had struggled really hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace. And so even though the marketer might be a really great marketer, what they were marketing, the thing that the business did, wasn’t actually that remarkable to a buyer—even though it could have been.

Standing out is tough

Standing out in a crowded market is not easy, it’s TOUGH. The easy route is being like everyone else. However, if you’re not willing to take a stand and clearly define your differentiator, to define what makes YOU different to define the NICHE market you serve, then your marketing will be ineffective.

Seth Godin has rallied this for many years.

Until you’re willing to shout loud and proud and express WHY people should flock to you and hire you and work with you then you’re wasting your time. Is it fear? We all have fear, and we must get over it so we can improve our marketing.

Smarter Marketing

Keep thinking about Clubhouse, live streaming, Facebook, Google ads and etc. YES. But also consider declaring the POWER of your messaging and bringing it to the market. You need a marketing mix yes, but you also need clear messaging! Focus on SERVING your customers, not selling them.

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