The Power of Serving In Your Marketing

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." 

- Napoleon Hill, author

The power of information marketing is growing every day. I constantly suggest to my clients that Serving is better than selling. Understand your Ideal Customer/Prospect and build a message or Value Proposition that first speaks about them and their pain, then about what you do and why you are different or the best at doing it.

The power of this approach was demonstrated to me yesterday while listening to the radio on the way to a client meeting. There is a company called Buffalo Hardwood which sells and installs wood flooring here in town. The owner came on and said (I paraphrase here):

"It seems like every day I talk to someone who says they can't have wood floors in their home because they have a dog. They fear the dogs nails will scratch and ruin the flooring so they put tile or some other floor covering in their homes. With the new hardwoods and new finishes we have now you can absolutely have wood floors and own a dog. American cherry and several other woods are too soft to work but we have a wide selection of other woods and finishes that will never scratch, etc. Then he talked about his company and why they were the best solution and different from the rest."

 

If he would have done the usual commercial "telling me all about him and his company, how long they have been in business, how great they are, that they are the best, etc." I would not have heard a word of it. But he talked about a pain I have, something I could relate to, so I tuned in.  

My wife and I have talked about replacing our foyer with wood flooring but had always ruled it out because of our dog. When I got home I went straight to my wife and told her we could have wood floors with our dog. Now we plan to go to the store and see what they have.  

Find the pain and then create TIPS like the one above that solves your Ideal Customer's pain and fears. Serve them by sharing information and then get it in front of them with email, Facebook, radio, direct mail, however you get your messaging out. Serve don't sell.  

All the best,

Rick Wallace