Don't Just Learn The Tricks Of The Trade - Learn The Trade! - Part 2
Here's more on learning the trade of marketing, not just the tricks of the trade:
Here's another advertising trick; this one is used by car dealers. They're notorious for using tricks because typically they haven't innovated their business sufficiently to have anything good to say. They don't have a good Inside Reality, so instead they try to trick you into believing their offer is a better value. No, this is not the loss-leader trick, where they put a stripped-down, low-price car in their ad that lures you onto the lot only to find out the car doesn't exist. How about this one, though? An ad that features the headline, 'Pay No Tax On All New Models.' You look at the headline and instantly draw the conclusion you won't have to pay sales tax, which on a $30,000 vehicle could mean saving a couple of thousand dollars. You see that and say, "Wow, that's a superior value...pay no tax." But if you looked closer, you'd see the teeny, tiny type at the bottom of the page that says 'Dealership will pay INVENTORY tax on the vehicle; customer is responsible for all state and local sales taxes.' If you've purchased a new car recently, you may remember seeing 'Inventory Tax' on the final invoice. It was probably something like $86. Wow, an $86 savings...nice trick, guys.
But that's what most advertising and marketing programs teach you to do - implement a bunch of little techniques to trick people into believing that there's some kind of value in doing business with you. Techniques, unfortunately, that frequently don't work when you try to use them in the real world. You can't just rely on tricks and techniques. You've got to build the Inside Reality of your business so that the Outside Perception at least has a chance of being genuinely good. If your Inside Reality is poor, or even if it's just about the same as everyone else, what do you think the Outside Perception of your business will be? Neutral at best. On the other hand, if you concentrate all your efforts on the Inside Reality but you can't advertise very well, you're setting yourself up for frustration. You'll be pulling your hair out trying to figure out why anybody would be so stupid to do business with your competitors when your business obviously offers a superior value. Well, maybe it's NOT so obvious.
Most businesses could stand some improvement in both areas, but they struggle the most with the Outside Perception. With all the competition that exists - because of the Confidence Gap - they have problems differentiating themselves in the marketplace. Regardless of your situation, your focus must be on improving the Inside Reality and Outside Perception of your company.
Can you see why it's imperative that these two factors be considered at the same time? Just teaching you how to innovate leaves you with a really solid company that nobody knows about. On the other hand, just teaching you sales, marketing or advertising will drive in business that won't stick around because there's no superior value. You have to consider both the Inside Reality and the Outside Perception. You must first have something good to say, and then say it well.
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Don't Just Learn The Tricks Of The Trade - Learn The Trade! (Part 2) - Adult B2B Mark
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