Marketing Half Truths
Did you listen to my recent Authority Marketing Podcast interview with Drayton Bird? Hasn’t he led an incredible life?
The interview reminded me of something I’ve long felt, but never oral about before. Something I describe as one of Marketing’s largest “half truths”.
Have you ever heard anyone say “your clients aren’t interested in you – only what you can do for them”? Or “they don’t care what you do – only the result they’ll get”? Or the ancient classic “clients are tuned in to WIIFM – what’s in it for me”?
Well, of course, that’s marketing 101. Real basics.
But it’s also only half the tale.
Here’s the business: weren’t you fascinated by Drayton’s anecdotes about his experiences, for example? And what are the most well loved programmes on TV? The soap operas or character based dramas like House or CSI.
We humans are fascinated by fascinating font. We want to know why House is the way he is – not just watch him cure the patient. We want to see the interplay between Grissom and Sara – not just the solution to the crime.
And vitally vital for professionals – those tales lend credibility to our expertise. We hear Drayton’s tales of studying human nature in his parents’ pub. Of researching direct marketing more than anyone else. Of learning from the greats. And of making mistake after mistake until he got it right.
And so we reckon “yes – he must know what he’s doing”.
So although clients initially focus on what’s in it for them – what results you’ll deliver for them. They’re also interested in your tale. What is it in your backstory that makes you credible to deliver those results.
And that means that as a consultant, a coach or other advisor, you need an fascinating and credibility-bestowing backstory.
I don’t mean you make one up. But you look at your tale and pick out the elements that make you credible in what you do.
Did you obsessively research your theme, for example. Or have you, like Drayton, “made every mistake in the book and then some” – you’ve got the experience and scars that mean you can steer your clients away from the problems you hit.
Perhaps you’re the champion of the small guy (or huge guy) like them. Or maybe you’ve been the guy behind the scenes pulling the strings making others like them successful.
Or maybe it’s a amalgamation of those things.
In the next post I’ll run through some of the most effective “tales” you can have.
But for now, just reckon about your own tale and what elements of it give you the most credibility in what you do.
PS – it’s not just people that people are interested in the backstory of. One of the most successful print advertisements of all time was the legendary Claude Hopkins’ ad for Schlitz Beer shown here.
Did the ad focus on the refreshing taste, or how the beer would make you feel? Was it all about the result?
Nope. it talked about the 50 years of brewing experience. It described the care they took selecting the hops from Bohemia. It meticulous the supervision of the process, the cleanliness, the purity, the filtration and the storage.
In small it gave the backstory of the beer. It gave credibility to the claim that it was the best beer in the world.
And the impact for Schlitz? It went from fifth in the market to first in a few months and stayed there for years.
That’s the power of a excellent backstory. One that goes beyond just WIIFM.
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Image by Andrew Morrell
Similar Posts:
- What’s Your Tale?
- What’s Your Backstory?
- Selling With Tales: Answering Tough Questions
- Drayton Bird Interview
- Turbo-Charge Your Sales Tales;
Marketing Half Truths is a post from: Get More Clients in Less Time: Practical Strategies, Proven Results