Marketing Philosophy Challenge

There are many articles about what business owners need to do to succeed in their digital marketing efforts. 

And yet, the vast majority of business owners, whether new or existing, still are not doing those things. 

Why? (“the writers just aren’t as cool as you bro!” – No, that’s not it)

But that is the exact question that business owners need to demand a better answer for.

ASK MARKETING: Why should I even waste my time on your A$$? 

The marketing and internet gold rush is over. 

The promises of increased profits, a growing business, or even just more leads have not been delivered upon for the VAST MAJORITY of small and local business owners. 

Most business owners have wasted time and money.

Most businesses have delivered a less quality service to their customers as a result.

Most business owners still work too much. Too hard. And are underpaid. Same with everyone else.

So why? 

Why should small and local business owners waste their time and money on marketing and digital marketing when it cannot guarantee anything but a continuance of the current suck?

BUT WAIT – There is another side to this – YOU – The business owner!

What’s your answer to that question? Have you stopped to actually assess and form your own opinion about what you need to do “marketing-wise,” or have you just followed blindly the path of least resistance only to realize….wait, you’re in the process of realizing it now? Maybe you already have. Maybe not, and now you think I hate you, so you hate me, and well, let’s just shoot the messenger.

After all, you’re the one who just turned to the internet and marketing because you want more leads, business, and profits, right? 

But if those things are not a good enough motivator, then why should you invest your time in the internet and digital marketing?

To help you think about this some more, ponder this question as you go about your work day.

ASK YOURSELF THIS: What is the intersection of my business and the internet?

Hint: Your customers are the intersection of your business and the internet.

Now take it a step further, asking yourself: What does that mean for me if my customers are the intersection of my business and the internet?

What does that mean for my efforts as a business owner?

THERE IS A THIRD SIDE TO THIS: People with real problems, wants, and needs!

There is you.

There is the internet.

There are other versions of you (people with problems, wants, and needs looking for solutions, ideas, things, and businesses to help themselves with).

Let’s look at it this way: You – Internet – People

Now, let’s shift your perspective and look at it as a consumer.

Problems – Internet – Solutions (People – Internet – Businesses)

CUSTOMER SERVICE IN A DIGITAL AGE

What I want you to realize is that the internet is merely a bridge between problems and potential solutions. A person’s toilet backs up. Do they have a problem? Well, only if they believe they can’t fix it. At that point, they might judge that they have a problem.

“just ask Google, honey; it’s what I do when no one’s looking!”

Because the intersection of your business and the internet is your customers, it means that marketing and digital marketing in general needs to be rooted in Customer Service. That is your digital marketing WHY!

More specifically, it needs to be rooted in helping them solve their problems, which is serving them. Just like you’ve always had to do. Only now, a part of that process takes place online, varying in degree depending on the industry you’re in, business goals, etc.

I know that sometimes evolving or growing or adapting is the enemy. However, it’s only once you’re on the other side of it that you actually realize what was before couldn’t sustain who you actually are and, therefore, had to go away so the new could come into existence and take you where you need to go next.

As hard as this might be for your ego to hear, people do not view you(a local business), even if they think they do, as their solution. They are their solution(even if they think they aren’t). You are just a tool they use to help themselves move forward in life – fact, not judgment or bad/wrong, just a fact you can use to your benefit or not. Case in point, this is also how you function and operate. You are your own solution. Sure, you may use tools, and even this article or my services, or someone else’s, however without you, all of that other stuff is just useless stuff with no purpose! You bring life to them, they will not bring life to you.

No different than buying a tool from the store and going home to use it, a person hires a business and uses them as a tool to help themselves move forward.

Your Daddy

A business needs to understand its place within the patterns of life and seek to be that thing no matter what the landscape or environment looks like. Not be specifically the type of business. But be a true business. What a business represents and is.

I promise you that if you truly understand what I am trying to convey, you will never, EVER, be worried about keeping yourself afloat in any market under any conditions. You will be in confident control always. The internet is just a tool you can use. It might not be here tomorrow, and this post will die, having no purpose.

So…….Are you in control? Confident? Consistent? Are you consistently in confident control? Hmmmm. Are you? Be honest, it’s your life.

So, here is my challenge that I bet you won’t do: Tell me, and every other marketing professional, to f$$k off. Then go forge your own path. Decide what you want to do regarding your business offerings and do them, meeting your customer where they are, embracing the environment you are in, and not creating problems out of fear. Use the tools that are available to you. But don’t give away your power.

Never try to get another customer ever again.

Never try to earn more money.

Never try to get a lead.

Never try to increase profits.

Or anything else.

Why would you go back to that when it’s failed you repeatedly? Quit doing the same thing, expecting different results.

It doesn’t matter the environment; taking the same ignorant, fear-based, and selfish approach will only lead right back to the same deathly place you just might currently find yourself in.

So are you in confident control regarding your marketing efforts?

Can you bring what’s inside of you out rightly, or does it come out a jumbled mess?

Are you satisfied with your return on investment?

Or are you flailing about in the wind hoping someone will come and save you?

But don’t worry, if you are struggling, just call me up, and I will help you out (but only if you can afford my ridiculous and outrageous rates!)