Above & Beyond
We need to go beyond ourselves to sustain…well…ourselves over the course of time. In other words, we can only achieve success by stepping out and going beyond our selfish needs and serving others.
Being a safe choice for our clients and elevating the lives of others is the purest form of enrichment. Our businesses must do the same. The world is scary and unsettled, but it’s critical we don’t push ourselves onto people out of our need to make a buck.
We must pull rather than push because being pushy cannot work in this world. Being pushy adds to the noise in our lives. Pull is gentler and more helpful. We push people into harm’s way and pull them out of their problems. A heavy dose of self promotion or product-centric content only annoys and clouds our minds.
For decades, marketers trumpeted the features and benefits of offerings. But most customers have learned to ignore these details…at least at the beginning of the process. In fact, your ideal client may not even realize he could benefit from your product or service. In turn, he goes through a great deal of self discovery to determine what help he may need and, ultimately, will only engage with companies that focus on his concerns.
The most thoughtful marketers put themselves in a position to support those needs when they come to light. Put another way, the client doesn’t care about your solution until he realizes the problem you solve for him…and while he goes through that process by himself today, the messaging from marketers must shift to the problems they solve instead of the features.
If you follow Bennett Graphics you know that we publish a magazine (Connect) six times each year. The cover story in our current issue, “Going Dark,” is about the dark side of communications. While many executives want a specific guarantee on their marketing investments, we examine why the most critical part of the sales and marketing cycle may actually be creating awareness for your brand.
If you don’t receive Connect and would like to, complete the subscription form on our website. It’s free with no strings attached. Or, call me. I’ll have you added to distribution.
We hope you’re having a wonderful summer and we wish you all the best as you go above and beyond.