Virtual Impax

When you embark upon a journey into unfamiliar territory – whether it’s the journey of self employment or the journey into online marketing – it’s not unusual to seek an experienced guide to help you find your way.

Unfortunately, when you don’t know what you don’t know – finding someone who does know can be difficult.

Lewis Carroll wrote  a tale of a little girl who follows a rabbit down the hole and finds an adventure and “Alice in Wonderland” has become a beloved classic.  In the new world Alic discovers, she tries desperately to find a guide to help her find her way home.   She wants out of this strange world where the conventional “rules” of logic do not apply.  The tale’s style is defined as one of literary nonsense – a “style of literature which plays the rules of logic and reason.

Business Success Formula Nonsense:

According to Wikipedia, the sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” was coined by Noam Chomsky as an example ofnonsense. The individual words make sense and are arranged according to proper grammar, yet the result is still nonsense.

In A Not-So-Secret Business Success Formula, I provided the following “not so secret” business success formula:

Developing a marketing strategy is as easy as answering the following questions:

• What is it you want to sell?

• Who would want to buy it?

• Why would they want to spend money buying it?  (What problem does it solve?  What goal does it help them achieve?  What desire does it satisfy?)

Once you’ve answered those three questions – the “marketing strategy” comes in.

• Create marketing materials to let those people know the product/service is available.
• Find out where do those people hang out.
• Place your marketing message in front of those people.

I understand that implementing this business success formula is much harder than it might appear – which is why I share it so freely via this blog.  I also outline step by step strategies on how to implement this formula in my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results

Why would I share decades of accumulated wisdom for only $14.95 via Amazon?  Because there’s a lot of “creativity and talent” involved in creating successful marketing strategies, not to mention developing and implementing successful marketing tactics.

That’s why I highlighted the video in A Day in the Life of a New Media Consultant or Agency…. as an example of the “curse” of being blessed with an abundance of creativity and marketing savvy and trying to sell that “service” is illustrated in the video.

I recently got an email from a client who asked my opinion on a software program that promises top search engine rankings by simply installing and using their software.

My reply:

I have found that SEO software is a lot like a graphic design software.

I have Adobe Photoshop –  I can USE Adobe Photoshop – but that doesn’t mean I can use it create a great logo.

Even though I own and can use Adobe Photoshop – I still used crowd sourcing design to create my logo above.

Blogs are a great way to let those who don’t know what they don’t know – who need to know what you know –  know what they need to know to make a wise purchasing decision.

In other words, it’s your job to educate your potential customer or client on WHY they should buy from you.  Blogs are a great way to do that.

When you educate customers, you establish trust.

Establishing trust is the REAL reason why you should be using “social media. Social media tools such as blogs do a great job of building trust with potential customers.

Social media marketing is a great way to “sell” your products and services when people don’t know what they need to know.

Need help on implementing this?  Use this form to connect.

When you start your own business, it can sometimes seem as though you are on a journey into an unknown and foreign land. It’s common when you’re in unfamiliar territory to seek a guide or a map.

If you’re searching for a simple, easy to use “business success formula” I’m going to lay it out – right here and now… for free!

The formula for business success is actually maddeningly simple:  put together a sound marketing strategy and then implement it.

Ah- creating the marketing strategy … that’s the “tricky” part.  But it doesn’t have to be tricky nor is it a secret.  Developing a marketing strategy is as easy as answering the following questions:

• What is it you want to sell?

• Who would want to buy it?

• Why would they want to spend money buying it?  (What problem does it solve?  What goal does it help them achieve?  What desire does it satisfy?)

Once you’ve answered those three questions – the “marketing strategy” comes in.

• Create marketing materials to let those people know the product/service is available.
• Find out where do those people hang out.
• Place your marketing message in front of those people.

This truly the Not-So-Secret Formula for Business Success.

When businesses don’t succeed – like say GM – usually the failure has it’s roots in losing track of one of the basic tenets above.  In the case of the “Big Three” automakers – they lost their way at point #2….

Who would want to buy it?

General Motor’s problems became apparent back in the 1970’s.  The oil embargo drove gas prices up – and lines began to form at gas stations.  Scarcity was limiting supply and driving up prices – and people began reacting to the change in the “rules” which governed their world.

Americans had a problem in the 70’s – filling up their fuel tanks was taking up more of their income – leaving less to spend on white suits, hair styling products and disco balls.

Those same Americans – who were thought to love big cars with big, gas guzzling engines –  began seeking fuel efficient cars as a solution.  GM, Chrysler and Ford weren’t making fuel efficient cars – but automakers in Japan and Germany were.  See, gas prices had always been higher in Japan and Europe than they were in America.  As a result, foreign automakers were already well versed in the art of creating fuel efficient cars that people WANTED to buy and drive.

However, American auto makers did not respond by catering to American’s new found desire for fuel efficient cars.  Instead GM and other US auto makers decided to attack this “shift” in consumer sentiment with the “buy American” rhetoric.  “Keep buying our cars – or you’re not patriotic.  They may cost more, not last as long and not be fuel efficient – but it’s good for America for you to buy our cars!”

Suddenly – it became “un-American” for an American consumer to decide to cast their “votes” in the market place with their hard earned money based on which car provided the best value.  We were to buy American made automobiles – even though they were less fuel efficient and less reliable than comparable foreign made automobiles.

In Disappointing customers without remorse – until the handouts begin

I can’t remember a time when GM cared about their pleasing their customers.   In the words of just about every business analyst on the planet – the reason GM isn’t making any  money is they aren’t making cars anyone wants to buy!

I love working with small business owners and this is why – because small business owners “get it”.  If they don’t, they’re bankrupt and broke in no time.

If you’re a small business owners – lift up your hands in praise!!!  You are uniquely gifted with the ability to see the look in your customer’s eye as they read the price tag on your product or service.  You can watch their body language as you make your presentation – and you can alter the course of your business accordingly.

The collapse of the largest auto maker in the US is no surprise.  It’s been decades in the making.  Poor strategic thinking – ignoring and abusing customers – resting on their past successes all played a part in the downfall.  It’s a problem in need of a solution.

The one thing I know for sure – the answer does NOT lie in the minds of government bureaucrats.   They have never had to “play” by the rules for business success and aren’t even aware that they exist.  (Cases in point – the DMV- the IRS – the USPS… need I go on?)

In chaos lies opportunity.

I can’t wait to see what amazing turn around American ingenuity will provide for this current tale of woe – because that is where the answer lies – in the entreprenurial spirit which made America great.