Why Marketing Keeps You Invisible
...and why marketing spends and brand updates often result in a low return.
Sliding into sameness
Simply checking the box to make sure you do what your competitors are doing ensures that your industry continues its slide into the sea of sameness.
Customers can't tell the difference between their options (because they all look the same), so you're forced to continually lower prices and race to the bottom.
Misguided Marketing
To catch your competition, the typical marketing answer is: "more content, more SEO, or more ads."
That's a slow addition strategy when you need an approach that takes you to 3X, 4X, or 10X. All the "mores" just pile on but miss the one thing that will take you from addition to multiplication. The difference? Incremental vs. Leapfrog growth.
Ad spends are wasted
The rising cost of digital ads, video, and paid social media isn't sustainable. Ad platforms put you in a bidding war on purpose—by constantly driving up ad costs. The high price of actually winning a new client that way does not pay off and never builds your marketing assets.
Marketing should deliver great customers reliably and profitably.
Visibility is in the eye heart of the customer.
Whether you are actually visible to new customers (and employees) depends on if you are reaching them in ways that matter to them, because people buy with their hearts. If you want to rise above the crowd, you have to speak to be more than just a low-cost option. You have to share how your solution uniquely solves their need.
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Visibility comes from the unique way you solve a customer's problem |
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Momentum & growth follow visibility |
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The way you stand out determines whether you can grow |
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Visibility begins when you connect what makes you special with customer needs |
1.
Single-Focus Tactics
You heard about something great at a conference, or were approached by a vendor who is selling "magic marketing beans." They offer the single solution for all of your growth needs.
The Promise: The last solution you'll ever need.
The Delivery: Another ad-hoc tactic with a few good results and no dramatic changes.
2.
Digital Ads & Mass Media Programs
For a fee you can rent access to someone else's audience. They'll interrupt whatever the individual was actually doing (connecting with friends, reading an article, or watching a video), so you can tell them about yourself.
The Promise: Great visibility and lots of new customers.
The Delivery: New customers trickle in (low conversion rates) and you get an ever-increasing advertising bill you can never stop paying.
3.
Generic Inbound + Social
The usual offering consists of a fresh website, along with lots of mediocre online content and regular social posting. If all you want to do is be like everyone else, that might be great. But it won't take you to sustained growth or market leadership.
The Promise: Check the boxes of standard online activity.
The Delivery: You become another brand that sails into the sea of sameness, without anchoring your story in the hearts of your audience or increasing the speed-t0-close or quality of your leads.
You should feel confident that every marketing investment is building something bigger than a one-time boost.
You need marketing that connects deeply with your customers so your brand story will stick.
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