A.I., Metaverse, WordPress and Active Campaign, are just a few marketing tools that you’ll need in your arsenal.
Remember though… they… are…just… tools!
A lesson I learned in my early days whilst embracing the pleasure of using an Apple Mac, was that going straight to using marketing tools without a strategy leaves you limited creatively.
I remember my creative director encouraging me to walk away from the screen and get a pen and paper out. A simple solution, but ultimately something I continually do in EVERY situation, including note taking.
There is so much to be said for the offline thought process, where the only marketing tools employed are head, heart and pen. It pains me to hear that any creativity is now being handed over to AI… AI is a tool, a very good one, yes, BUT still a tool!
One of the most common marketing mistakes of those who don’t have a long experience of building brands is that they sell on tech. Tech will not overcome poor strategy or poor storytelling. This is what I call microwave marketing. Synthetic, tasteless, and lazy.
There are three simple things required to engage people, yet marketers look to make it more complex to command a better fee.
1. You need to know the pain – you need to show empathy
2. You need to be able to show the promise (the game changer)
3. You need to reveal the place to which you are taking them – show them evidence
Other than that people don’t care.
When you make marketing all about you, you’re done. Marketing is all about the audience because, without them, you have no clients and more importantly, no impact worth sharing.
Top 3 mistakes of microwave marketing
1. Hero Complex
Storytelling is ME focused. Let ME tell you about how great we are rather than show you HOW we will add value. That is the no.1 outcome. When you the marketer are the hero there is no room for the client – it’s not about you, it should be all about them.
2. One Voice
The killer of all collaboration. Experts get ignored because anyone can be a marketing expert, right? I remember floating the idea with one client about taking an art gallery online, but I was told that would never work… eventually, someone saw it and backed the idea, they took a risk. It saved their business during the pandemic and transformed how they traded globally.
3. The guilt gap
Where an internal marketing team heads down a direction that doesn’t fit and yet the guilt gap means they keep pursuing it. Stop. Too often I have seen an internal team’s noble efforts miss the mark, but not wanting to offend, they continue to spend. Rather bring them into the conversation from the start or outsource the marketing.
4. Rushing it
Rather than rushing the process of putting a brand together, do it properly and you’ll find that a great brand gives you pace. Too many people miss out on the luxury a brand gives and campaigns fail, expenses soar and expectations are not met. When you build with the right foundations, everything is easier. A brand gives you flexibility, power and pace!
Experts give you extraordinary results
From Canva to Clip Art, Adobe Amateurs to ChatGPT Vampires – all these tools require an underlying story – they aren’t enough on their own. Over-reliance on them can damage both your brand and your message. When you hire a team to help you with your marketing, they will spot things that you cannot see and bring fresh direction that will give you momentum.
As a team, we have renamed companies, launched podcasts, created networks, invented new products, and even transformed tech to revolutionise operations for our clients. What you get with us is more than marketing, it’s brand building, which takes time but establishes authority, and that stands the test of time.
We find that not everyone will click, subscribe or comment BUT a great brand will eventually cause people to sit up and take notice.
That is the power of a brand. People want to engage with it, but not everyone will commit straight away.
People need to see themselves on the other side of a brand, having seen it being built they can stand confidently in pitches and presentations able to tell their story through their brand and easily remove any friction.
Our Purpose Playbook is the go-to solution to help you take part in building a winning brand that tells your story most effectively. The four brand pillars are Belief, Belong, Best and Beyond.
Once these brand pillars are firmly established in your business, we recommend strategies that will make all the difference. If it’s a podcast you need, we will write the episodes, if it’s partnerships you need, we will open doors.
Here is a quote from the team at HBBA…
My Friday evening testimonial. I ordered the pack of flyers and business cards on Thursday morning. And they were delivered to Paul’s home this afternoon. Thank you, Darrell. I love working with your team: Clare, Dee, George & Jon are brilliant. Our landing pages, flyers, designs…. So quick, professional and humble people. Thank you! 💙
Suzanna Toft Lee – CEO Hungarian British Business Alliance
Our recommendations will open your eyes but as we always point out, brand is a journey and we’ll help you navigate for now and the years to come!
If you want a FREE 15-minute conversation we are happy to help and understand where you are. We’ll show you what is needed to create a compelling narrative that makes you stand out in an ocean of options!
Watch the latest episode of the Purpose People Podcast via the image link below.
