Be the bulls-eye, not the arrow

Friday, September 14, 2007 - posted by hellomynameisscott at

We live in a My Culture.

Here’s why.

Because of the exponential growth of Internet, humans now have instant access to infinite amounts of information.

This creates a hyperspeed, infinite-choice society where people are BOMBARDED by thousands of marketing messages on a daily basis.

Which makes customers' patience dwindle.

Which reduces attention span to about six seconds.

Which ultimately means: customers are going to get WHAT they want, WHEN and HOW they want it.

And there’s nothing you can do about it.

My Culture.

For example, let’s go back to about a decade ago when it all started.

Before Tivo.
Before Google.
Before YouTube.

Remember when Windows 95 came out?

It was SO cool! Especially that little folder called “My Documents.”

Wow! customers thought. MY Documents? All for me! This is great!

And thus began a worldwide trend of false ownership.


MY AOL.
MY music.
MY favorites.
MY homepage.
MY documents.

My, my, my, my, my!

Me, me, me, me, me!

Hence: My Culture.

And there’s not necessarily anything BAD about it.

It’s just a complete reversal from previous generations.

And businesspeople need to recognize this.

See, in the past, the mass media, big companies and worldwide organizations dictated WHAT, WHEN and HOW we got information.

Take TV, for example:

Thursday night? Time for Friends!
Saturday morning? Let’s watch college football!
Sunday evening? Turn on the Simpsons!

That’s how it used to be.

But now, things are reversed.

Now, customers are calling the shots.

*Going out of town on Sunday? No problem! You can just Tivo The Simpsons and watch it (commercial free) on Tuesday afternoon.

*Ran to the bathroom during Peyton Manning’s game-wining Hail Mary pass at the buzzer? No worries! Just pause live TV, go back two minutes and watch it again.

*Missed Gray’s Anatomy last week? Fear not! Hop on to YouTube or www.graysanatomy.com and watch the highlights!

My Culture.

SO, HERE’S THE BIG CHALLENGE: how do you reach customers who already know what they want?

HERE'S THE BIG ANSWER: reverse your marketing.

Stop operating on an old school model.

Don’t sell. ENABLE … customers to buy.
Don’t look. ATTRACT … customers to you.
Don’t push. PULL … customers towards you.

Essentially:

Don’t be the arrow. Be the bull’s-eye.

Let them target YOU.

That’s Reverse Target Marketing: sticking yourself out there and enabling the ideal market target YOU.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Be a big, beautiful, juicy target.
2. Let the market define itself for you.

Then, once you deliver value and stick yourself out there in a unique, yet specific way, three things will happen.

FIRST, WHEN YOU’RE THE TARGET: customers come out of nowhere.

Unexpected markets you never would have thought of start saying things like, “Your product is SO perfect for someone like me because…”

And you just sit there, smiling, taking mental notes!

Because they just did your market research for you.

SECOND, WHEN YOU’RE THE TARGET: you don’t have to waste your money.

Advertising, direct mail, brochures and all that other tree killing, money burning crap? Things of the past!

Now, you can focus your efforts on what’s most important: serving, respecting and retaining those customers that identified themselves FOR you.

THIRD, WHEN YOU’RE THE TARGET: customers are self-qualified.

Which reduces the cost of sales.
Which reduces your level of effort.
Which reduces your average sales cycle.

Which makes you a lot of money WITHOUT annoying, interrupting and disrespecting the people you serve.

THE BOTTOM LINE: when you match a My Culture with Reverse Target Marketing, you win. The customers win.

Because ultimately, in a My Culture, the customer is going to find her target eventually.

So, it only makes sense that you make your target as big possible, right?

Don’t aim; be aimed at.

Don’t be the arrow; be the bull’s-eye.

LET ME ASK YA THIS...
How are you reversing your marketing?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS...
Share your best Bulls-eye Basics here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag


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3 Comments:

At 7:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Scott:

Good post. I see that in the way people drive here in Chicago. It is all about "me." The average driver is in their own little world with no patience. I walk to public transportation every day to get to work and pass a really busy intersection and have nearly gotten killed more times than I can count. I've often thought to myself that if these drivers could get away with it, they would hit me and keep driving. They are driving at their own speed, in their own world, talking to their friends while driving (illigal here to hold a phone while driving) and not really caring about anyone but themselves. It does truly feel like a "me" generation.

Tim

 
At 8:33 AM, Blogger Lisa Braithwaite said...

Sometimes I get discouraged by what seems to be an overwhelming "me" culture, but then I experience some really caring people and I realize it's not as dire as it seems. In fact, I wrote on my blog about some good people last week:
http://coachlisab.blogspot.com/2007/09/good-people-long.html

I do agree, though, that "attracting" beats hitting people over the head with your message. I think I do that with the way I represent myself on the web as approachable, helpful and open. Do I get the best clients in the world this way? Yep!

 
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