John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, offers a humorous story of one of his real-life marketing blunders.  While not intentional, grammatical errors plague the best of us and will often live to haunt us (or better, make us chuckle).

I often tell a story of the time I was living in West Africa when I was early on in my language study of the local African language, Aja-gbe.  I was at church and asked to pray, so I worked up a prayer for the Lord’s Supper.  While not grammatical, I made a blunder in tonality (in this tonal language!) that had me mixing up similar sounding words simply because I didn’t take the time to articulate the correct tones.  My prayer about “Jesus’ car” and the “bellybutton of heaven” gave my African friends something to laugh about for years to come (I meant to say “Jesus’ blood” and the “gates of heaven”!)

In addition to grammatical or tonal blunders, we are often guilty of simple marketing errors based on an irresponsible expectation of our advertising.  Roy Williams shared this article a couple of years ago called “Top Advertising Blunders” (read the full article for a full description of the items below) – you’ve probably experienced some of these and we have too.

1. The quest for instant gratification

2. Trying to reach more people than the budget will allow

3. Assuming the business owner knows best

4. Unsubstantiated claims

5. Improper use of passive media

6. Creating ads instead of campaigns

7. Obedience to unwritten rules

8. Late-week schedules

9. Overconfidence in qualitative targeting

10. Event-driven marketing

11. Great production without great copy

12. Confusing response with results

IMAGE CREDIT

(* Thank goodness for speellcheck, because I almost published this very post with several misspeellings!)   -  LOL

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A few months ago, we were taking with a client about what makes them different.  Their answer:  “we don’t really know.”

Later, trying to talk to another prospective client about their uniqueness, the well-meaning voice on the other end of the phone said, “our differentiator is our quality.  We really do offer it better than anyone else.”

Oh really.

(Secret:  your competition is saying the same thing!)

These are NOT differentiators:

• “Great product” (again, don’t you imagine everyone says that about their product – kinda like what every grandparent says about their kids’ kids at church on Sunday morning)
• “Great customer service” (this is in the eye of the beholder – if your customers REALLY do think this, there needs to be a ton of testimonials that attest to this – not just in writing, but audio or video testimonials as well to lend credibility)
• “Friendliest employees” (well, then why did I walk in the other day and feel like I was interrupting his day?)
• “Best prices” (is this where you want to differentiate yourself?  really?)

Tomorrow, we will conduct our FREE teleseminar on differentiation.  Listen for the categories where you can really stand out and WOW your customer!

One area we’ll discuss is price.  It’s been said that price is the very worst place to compete.  Selling apples while competing with other apple sellers will inevitably lead to someone selling them cheaper.  And eventually, that “cheaper” leads to less profit for you!  But apples-to-apples, other than price, how else will the customer make their decision?

That’s why you have to deliver a fruit basket filled with the best apples plus alot of other good stuff!

1. Offer them an added-value service that your competitor won’t ever do.  WOW your prospect and make yourself stand out!
2. Perform the little extras that cost you little or nothing.  It’s these things are memorable to the customer the next time they think they’re comparing apples to apples.
3. Bundle your apple with a long-term relationship product.  Perhaps an extended service plan, a follow-up visit, or some other engagement that comes with your apple.

You eliminate the price comparison, because now you’ve elevated the decision to VALUE.  Yes, they could buy an apple for $1 from the other guy, but they get two apples plus oranges, bananas, grapes and more.  Yes, your basket costs more, but you have so much more to offer than just a simple Granny Smith.

I have on my Christmas list (already) Chris Brogan’s latest work, “Trust Agents“.

Let me repeat myself.

I have on my Christmas list (already) Chris Brogan’s latest work, “Trust Agents“.

OK, that’ll suffice for the 2 people who both read this blog and might actually buy me something.

The word, “trust” catches my attention.  As a Duct Tape Marketing authorized coach, we live and breath on this definition of marketing.  It’s based on T-R-U-S-T.

With the rise of online marketing and fast-changing technology, trust is a huge factor.  You can be swooned and swayed by all kinds of gadgetry, but in the end, few transactions are completed (and even fewer repeated) unless TRUST is in the equation.

Know-Like-Trust:  It’s part of our marketing definition.

Here’s John’s take on the who trust thing – a great article.

-Randy

(oh in case you missed it, here’s a link to the podcast John did with Chris Brogan – great stuff!)

image credit: jaki good