This building is called Motif Number 1, and it’s in Rockport, Massachusetts. It’s known as “the most often-painted building in America.” You can see why. Even my somewhat basic picture of it stirs a sentiment. It’s a kind of icon for “New England fishing village.”
I’m working with a couple guys on a project where (among other duties) I get to fill in as their Chief Marketing Officer. Business has been good, but they need more customers. I haven’t had marketing duties beyond my own small business for ages and so I thought about what would be the best way to get us to new levels. The answer? Basics.
Basics Get a Bad Rap
We humans crave novelty, always chasing the new, the shiny. And yet, it’s the basics that often get us what we need. When a company needs more customers, I don’t wonder about a TikTok strategy, or whether GPT can write email campaigns. I work backwards from the goal.
This company sells software. This software requires a demo. Thus, getting more demos is the baseline of the goal. That’s the metric. No other metric matters more than “did my sales team get people to accept a demo, and did my demo guy close the deal?'“
Thus, when working on marketing for this business, I’ll work around the basics. (I’ll give the paid subscribers even more on this later.)
People Buy to SOLVE Needs or to FEED Wants
Start there. Are you fulfilling a need or satisfying a want. The software I’ll help sell is a “need” for organizations. Without it, they can’t deliver on a promise to their people. So I know that this is a need to be filled. That’s the first layer.
If it were a “want” based sale, like “this super sexy camera will make you an amazing photographer,” then it’s a whole other kind of marketing approach. A need, especially in b2b marketing, is about removing reasons not to buy more than it is convincing someone to make a purchase. (Paid subs - remember this one - I’ll cover it more.)
The Goal, The Mode (Need vs Want), The Method
This picture is the most unnecessarily colorful lobster trap I’ve ever seen.
Most people in marketing focus far too much on tactics. Worse, they tend to do which method they prefer and not the one that’s most effective. If your buyer is rarely at a desk, you can rest assured they don’t want to read super long written reports. In fact, me, the author, writing you a LETTER, will tell you: most people don’t want to READ.
There, I said it.
The method you choose has to match the buyer. Sometimes, it’s easy. If you put up a big sign by the side of the road that says “FRESH LOBSTERS” 🦞 , you’re going to get the people who want lobsters. If the buyer needs lots of comparisons with competitors, or feature checklists, then get producing those charts, bucko.
Some methods are given, I guess. Email marketing, for one. But HOW you approach it will be different based on the sale and the buyer. (I’ll go into this more later.)
Basics are a Strong, Solid Starting Place. Always
In all things, getting back to the core is always valuable. Maybe there’s a spot in your life where it would be worthwhile to revisit, reset, and restart with the basics. Does anything come to mind? Hit reply and let me know.
(Paid subs, read on.)
Chris…
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