Tag: marketing

  • Why I (sort of) Chose Marketing As A Career

    Why I (sort of) Chose Marketing As A Career

    Article 8/365 of Jacques’s Writing Quest

    I’m not sure that marketing was my first choice. If I’m honest, it was to be a time traveller. But until Elon Musk invents a time machine, I’ll have to cool my heels. A flâneur had huge appeal to me. Lounging around Parisian coffee shops and observing society is a cool gig if you can get it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a trust fund, so that one went out the window. I toyed with the idea of becoming a philosopher like my father until I realised that there are no philosophy factories giving out jobs and I didn’t want to take a vow of poverty.

    I’m not even sure that there was a grand design to me going into marketing. After two years of compulsory military service, I decamped in 1982. I studied public relations, worked in PR firms and became a PR copywriter for a mining company. I also gained experience in crisis management while working for a communications company. Later, I joined an advertising agency and eventually started my own business in 2000.

    But, there may have been a grand design, albeit, subtle. 

    It was my father, you see, that led me to marketing. He was pregnant with potential. He had everything going for him and an intellectual pedigree to boot. 

    He came from a wealthy family. He got a double doctorate (philosophy and theology), both summa cum laude, from the University of Zurich. He was taught by the renown Swiss theologian, Emil Brunner. He was present at lectures given by Carl Jung. He had a music degree and played the violin for a symphony orchestra. He was a Dutch Reformed minister until his excommunication in 1960 for speaking against apartheid. He became a member of the Christian Institute, alongside Beyers Naude and Ben Engelbrecht. He authored three books and finally ended his career as a political analyst and/or spy.  

    Ironically, with this rich background, he became neither rich nor famous. In fact, my two brothers and I had to support him for 10 years+ until he passed in 2000.

    I’m convinced that if my father knew how to market his gifts he would have been the Jordan Peterson of his era and have made a decent living. To be fair, there weren’t the marketing tools and reach that we have today, available then. 

    That’s what drives my career path today. I see too many people who are like my father taking a vow of poverty. People like you who are geniuses, people like you that should be playing on a bigger stage and people like you who can really make a difference in this world, languishing in oblivion.

    I’m convinced that marketing would make all the difference to those people. To you. 

    Don’t be like my father. Embrace marketing and share your gift because, right now, there’s someone out there that needs what you have to offer. Don’t deprive them of the privilege of having you serve them.

  • The World Needs You

    The World Needs You

    There are two types of people that drive the world: ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴏʀꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏᴛᴇʀꜱ.

    These people are the star actors, and the rest are the supporting cast. All other roles are subordinate to them. They’re the trees that supply us with oxygen.

    There’s a pecking order between these two stars, however. There’s a notion that being a creator is sexy. Being a promoter, not so much.

    Creators are ‘artists’ that don’t want to sell out by resorting to marketing and sales.

    They’re kinda like Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams: “Build it, and he will come.”

    For mere mortals like us, if we don’t embrace promotion, “He’s not coming.”

    If you’re a creator, and you actively market and sell, be proud because this is noble work.

    There are people that need what you have, but don’t know how to get it (you). Who are you to deny them that privilege?

    If you feel uncomfortable about promotion, consider this. There’s not one dominant religion, philosophy, product or service that hasn’t thrived because of marketing and sales.

    Imagine if Nikola Tesla had great promoters, we’d have more than a car, wouldn’t we? We’d have a dominant ecosystem that would have been good for us and the planet.

    Thomas Edison had better promotion and fewer scruples, and now we sit with that mess.

    If you work for a company, pop into your marketing and sales departments, and shake their hands. They feed you and me. After all, nothing happens without a sale.

    If you work for yourself and haven’t embraced marketing and sales, think again.

    You are valuable, and there are people that need what you are selling. Don’t deny them.

    The world needs you. Don’t deny it YOU.

  • Meet the mathematician that believes in randomness

    Meet the mathematician that believes in randomness

    I’ve been a fan of networking ever since I joined Business Network International some 15 years ago.

    I never really understood the power of networking until I read the statistical mathematician, Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book, Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder.

    He posed a question around why some entrepreneurs are successful and why others end up in the graveyard of failure.

    He mentioned those individuals who are considered “successful” in society … Gates, Branson et al. There are people that have had more opportunity, are better qualified, are smarter and started with more money than those that we view as the epitome of business success. Yet they never reached the heights of these titans.

    He distilled the difference between success and failure in business (and, perhaps, in life) into one word.

    Randomness.

    For someone like me who used to believe that effort = reward, that was a hard pill to swallow. Seriously, our success hinges on a bit of luck?

    The irony is not lost on me that a mathematician believes in a bit of luck ;-).

    According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, luck happens when knowledge (specifically, 10,000 hours of it) and opportunity dissect.

    I like that definition of luck. There’s a distinct Fortuna Eruditis Favet vibe to it. Fortune (and randomness) favours the prepared.

    So, if you buy Taleb and Gladwell’s construct (and I do), then you have to see the value of networking.

    It stands to reason that the more people and experiences we expose ourselves to, the more chance we have of getting lucky.

    I’ll unpack the power of networking in a discourse called “Connect For Success” at the Eagle Canyon Golf Estate Business Breakfast in Roodepoort on Wednesday, September 13.

    Come network with business owners and sales professionals just like you, and enjoy a bang-up breakfast. Who knows, this random event may just change the trajectory of your life.

    You can book your spot here.

    You’re the Job.

    Jacques

    PS. Since this is being held at a golf estate, I leave you with this quote which I think is appropriate to this endeavour: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Gary Player.

  • Is your marketing weaponised?

    Is your marketing weaponised?

    I was rereading Seth Godin’s All Marketers Are Liars the other day. The premise is that we believe whatever we want to believe, and that it’s exactly this trait of ours, which marketers use (and sometimes abuse) to sell their products by infusing them with good stories – whether they’re true or not.

    Some marketing stories are embellished with fibs, and others with downright fraud. 

    When is it a fib and when is it fraud?

    A fib is when you tell your wife that you went to the petrol station when you actually went to the mall to buy her birthday gift. Fraud is when you say that you went to the mall to buy her birthday gift when you were in fact in a hotel with a hooker (don’t do that).

    This fib/fraud dilemma is why I’m such a shocking marketer (ironic for someone who is in the marketing business). I’m always scared that I’ll tell a lie. There’s good reason for that because I lie to myself all the time. I just don’t want to out myself in my marketing copy for the world to see what a fraud I really am. It’s enough that I know. 

    So, generally, I underplay what I can do for my clients. Just in case they see behind the mask.

    Even though I stand sentinel to the lies I could tell, a number of them slipped through … which I’ve tried to rectify.

    Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story

    I tell people that I’ve written more than 12 million words. Technically, it’s not a lie, but if you interrogate it deeper, it’s taken me 27 years to write those words. This comes to around 1217 words a day. I tout myself as a writer … this is patently untrue. Real writers like Kirsty Coetzee and Tiffany Markman could easily knock up 2739 words a day and produce a million words a year. Most real writers do way more than that a day. I’m not a real writer.

    My favourite fib is one I see in the speaker/trainer fraternity, and it makes me uncomfortable because I think it’s fraud. And, I’ve done it before. You’ll see a list of recognisable clients on their websites: Liberty Life, Standard Bank, Discovery and the list goes on. But it isn’t exactly the truth is it? Having trained six people in a dingy training room in Sasol’s Secunda office doesn’t qualify as ‘Sasol’. I can say that because to my shame that’s what I did, and stuck Sasol’s logo on my website. It’s gone now with all the other puffery.

    Oh, here’s another favourite that people use: “I get 90% of my work off LinkedIn/website/Facebook or whatever. This may be true, but 90% of two deals a month is nothing, really. Technically, it is 90%, but it’s not a real number. If you were getting 10 deals a month, then it is something to crow about.

    Weaponised Marketing

    • 98% fat-free. They don’t tell you that it’s the 2% that’ll kill you.
    • No added sugar. How much was there in the first place? Any diabetics out there that this could impact?
    • Our clothes are the cheapest … because we use enslaved seamstresses who are trapped on a ship that goes from port to port delivering the finished goods.
    • Mass murderers Bush and Blair: “They have weapons of mass destruction”; leading to the death of more than 460 000 Iraqis after the US invasion. And they’re boy scouts compared to some of the shit that has gone down in history (Anyone want to go on a Crusade?).

    You get the picture, I’m sure.

    It sounds like I think all marketers are liars

    I think that all of us lie (mostly to ourselves) because it helps us get along (with ourselves and others). Can you imagine being 100% truthful (Do I look fat in these jeans?), we’d never have any friends, would we?

    If you’re a marketer (if you have your own enterprise then you are) you can fib a little if you think it’s appropriate because it makes a good story, and hopefully doesn’t harm anyone. But, if you want to tell a great story, tell an authentic one.

    That feels more congruent. 

    Attracting clients to me through authenticity rather than through duplicity feels right to me, and I’m sure to you, doesn’t it? 

    I certainly sleep better as a consequence of that choice.

  • Write for Jackson Pollock

    Write for Jackson Pollock

    Someone once told the composer Morton Feldman that he should write for the “man in the street”. Feldman went over to the window, and who did he see? Jackson Pollock.

    When writing your blog posts, write about things that interest you. When you write like this, you find your tribe. What you find fascinating, they’ll find fascinating.

    What should you write about to find your tribe?

    Ask yourself: What would make you jump up with joy if you read it now? What would move your heart and stimulate your intellect? If you find something that makes you ecstatic, this is what you should write.

    You will write text that almost no one likes. Fortunately, almost no one is multiplied by the entire population of the internet is plenty if you can only find them. 

    Don’t pander to search engines to try and get your website rankings up. Don’t dumb your work down. The people you write for you aren’t stupid. Treat them with respect and write your best work. Write in as much vivid detail and beauty as you can, because that’s what you’d like. And, that’s what they’d like.

    That’s how you find your people. That’s how you build an enterprise that fuels the life you want.

    I got the idea for this article from one of my favourite writers, Austin Kleon.

    Photo Credit: DepositPhoto

  • Entrepreneurs don’t have a marketing problem, they have a belief problem

    Entrepreneurs don’t have a marketing problem, they have a belief problem

    If you feel overwhelmed by branding and marketing your business, you’re not alone.

    Even though I run a marketing shop, there are days when I find marketing to be a soul-sucking, money-gulping and time-wasting minefield, mired in complexity, empty promises and poor results.

    These are the days that I ask (｢๑•₃•)｢ ʷʱʸ?.

    Those are the days that I just want to blow it all up and go somewhere quiet, and play chess with my friends, drink whiskey, catch bass and write my books.

    Luckily those days are few, and my 20-year love affair with marketing gets me out of bed, excited.

    My name is Jacques, a marketing evangelist, author and professional speaker.

    Most of my clients come to me when they’re at their wit’s end. They’re:

    ＊ Confused (⊙_☉)
    ＊ Angry ໒( . ͡° ͟ʖ ͡° . )७┌∩┐
    ＊ Scared ☜ (◉▂◉ ) …

    … that the enterprise they’ve put their heart and soul into is not getting the traction and success that it should.

    They come in two forms:

    ＊ People who have never tried marketing
    ＊ People who have thrown money and resources at marketing, with poor results (or no results)

    In my experience, they don’t have a marketing problem, they have a belief problem. A clarity problem. And, they tell weak, insipid, and uninspiring stories.

    The actual process of marketing is easy. I’m sure that if you had the time, you could learn it and implement it quickly. But you don’t have the time because you have other priorities, don’t you? Like working on your craft and making sure your families are secure, and that your dreams come true.

    There’s no shortage of talent. Marketing professionals are ubiquitous. Shake a tree and a copywriter, social selling ‘expert’ or digital marketing agency will fall out of it.

    Let’s be frank. If your business is not growing and is contracting, you should consider increasing your sales and marketing efforts so that you can stay competitive and profitable.

    Hire marketers; I’m sure they’ll do a marvellous job for you. Seriously.

    If you don’t know where to start, I can introduce you to fabulous marketing people that’ll do an astounding job and deliver on any brief you have.

    My particular strength is getting your prospects to choose you, by:

    ＊ Clarifying your contribution so that you can build a business that inspires you, and that you’re proud of.
    ＊ Writing sparkling and brilliant copy
    ＊ Writing legacy-worthy LinkedIn profiles

    Set up a call with me so that we can explore how we can expand your business. Remember to bring a chess set, whiskey or a bass fishing rod (>‿♥)

  • Why you really don’t need more customers

    Why you really don’t need more customers

    You really don’t need more customers, seriously. What you need are more clients.

    On the face of it, customer/consumer/client means the same, doesn’t it?

    But there’s a nuance, and that can make all the difference to how you attract the right business to you.

    Right off the bat, I hate the word consumer in anything. We’re fucking the planet up enough by consuming everything. Consumers remind me of locusts … and there’s nothing redeeming about locusts.

    Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s focus on the nuance between customers and clients.

    In my view, a customer is someone who buys a product or service from your company. A client is someone who is under your protection.

    When we see customers:

    • We have predatory attention. We’re hunting them.
    • We don’t look at them as human but as data on an Excel spreadsheet. How many units did we sell this month. How near are we to our targets.
    • Customers are a means to our end. Turnover. Profits. This is what we’re taught in business schools aren’t we … a business is there to make a profit for its owners and shareholders.These are the same business schools that teach us the employees are a resource to get a result. No wonder most employees are disengaged from the work they do. Seriously, how would you feel if someone called you a resource to get a result. A resource implies that it can be used up. How does it feel to be used up and discarded. I think it feels shit and I wouldn’t be keen to work for a company that uses me for its own ends. I want to feel that I’m important and a human being in the whole equation and that I’m cared for and safe.
    • When we look at customers, often we focus on doing things right, not on doing the right things.
    • When we have customers, it is about us and our needs, and not theirs.

    When we see clients:

    • We have receptive attention – we listen to what they need and figure out if we can really help them.
    • We do the right things all the time for the clients’ highest good (even if it means referring them to a competitor because that is in their best interest).
    • We don’t talk about reaching targets. We talk about reaching hearts. “How many clients can we reach today so that we can make their lives better?” I think that’s a more congruent and heart-centred way to deal with clients.
    • We’re heart-centred, kind, compassionate and caring
    • We protect our clients and give them a safe pair of hands to help them over the finish line.

    I think it is more helpful to use the word client than customer. Bring in a culture of heart-centredness. Give your client a safe pair of hands. If you do this, you’ll be able to build the hardest thing to get from any client: TRUST.

    I’m facilitating a workshop called The Courage To Be Visible which speaks to this article and a whole lot more. Check it out.

  • Are you a reluctant marketer?

    Are you a reluctant marketer?

    If you feel uncomfortable with the spammy, predatory and ploy-ridden marketing that you see on social media and in email campaigns, then you’re a reluctant marketer.

    If you’re insulted that marketers think that you’re intellectually dense by giving you “too-good-to-be-true” offers, then you’re a reluctant marketer.

    You and I know that nobody gives a free seminar, webinar or ebook without wanting something in return (like an email address so that they can spam you later or to up-sell you to their course or expensive solution).

    If you blush at the blatant and ubiquitous self-promotion of some marketers on social media, then you’re a reluctant marketer. 

    Here’s the truth. I’ve been guilty of all of the above. And, maybe you have too? It’s not our fault because this is how we’ve been taught by the marketing gurus that we subscribe to and we don’t know better.

    You probably suspect that there’s a better way to do good work, market ethically and get paid for it.

    There is, and there’s tons of information about it. Go and look at anything by Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, Eckhard Tolle and the like. There is a better way.

    If you you’re uncomfortable with the way you market your products and services and need a new way to look at things, then this quote by Seth Godin has to resonate with you: Great marketers don’t use consumers to solve their company’s problem; they use marketing to solve other people’s problems. Their tactics rely on empathy, connection, and emotional labour instead of attention-stealing ads and spammy email funnels. 

    Marketing With Meaning

    If you want to market in a way that supports you and your values, then seriously consider reading further. Do work that makes you proud and attract the customers to you who need what you have to give.

    1. Get belief in yourself and your product/service. Strangely many reluctant marketers are reluctant because they lack belief in themselves and their products/services. It wouldn’t be a stretch that many folks, especially creators (artists, musicians, professional speakers, writers), suffer from the imposter syndrome. “Maybe someone will find out one day that I’m not as good as I say I am.” Reframe any negative connotations you may have around yourself and your product/service. Know that you do good work, that you create value for your customers and that it is an honour and benefit for them to be exposed to your work.
    2. Craft a compelling story. Design your brand story which will be the golden vein that’ll run through all of your marketing and communication. The story will position your product/service so that you’ll attract only those who will value your offering and will be prepared to pay for it. It will weed out those who will never buy from you.
    3. Deliver your story. I know that some of us are reluctant marketers because we think our product/service should be good enough to attract people without marketing. We’re like Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella in the movie Field of Dreams who constructed a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. He said, “If you build it, he will come.” The reality is that nobody is coming. If we want people to come to our ‘Field of Dreams’ and make our dreams come true, then we have to use the marketing tools available to us, there’s no getting around that. And, if we believe that we are here to serve humankind, then there’s no shame in using these tools … only blessing (for you and your customer). Use the tools available to you and there are many. Reach as many people as you can so that they can use what you have to offer. They need you.