Where To Find Your Next Marketing Breakthrough

From the desk of Roy Furr, Thursday, November 8th, 2007

“You are not a Buddha.”

I’ve written before about the importance of the MasterMind principle. That is, when two or more minds come together, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Combining ideas lets us get out of our own way. And we need to get out of our own way, because we are not Buddhas — we don’t know all, we can’t see all. In fact, most of us have very clouded vision about what is “right” for our business and selling to our customers. Some of our ideas surrounding these topics are very valuable. Some, very detrimental.

I’m all about finding ways to maximize what’s valuable in our businesses, and minimize anything detrimental.

MasterMind groups are one way to get out of your own way and find unique ways to add value to your business. But they’re not the only way.

I have a couple easy ways for you to get half way to the benefits of the MasterMind by yourself — so you can uncover big marketing breakthroughs waiting to happen (and recognize what’s holding you back).

These are easy ways to get some of the benefit quickly, without the effort of finding and setting up a MasterMind group. I’ll cover those first then I’ll cover an easy way to get big results, using resources already inside your company.

Two ways to step out of your head and find big marketing breakthroughs

These two ways give you many of the benefits of doing a MasterMind, with less effort.

The first, steal from your competitors.

This is a good way to get “on par” with the rest of your industry.

If you’re an underperformer but your product is good, you can grow quickly to the level of your competitors by using the same mediums as your competitors. A better selling message — providing unique value — will even push you a bit beyond your competitors.

To know what your competitors are doing, you should get on their mailing lists, subscribe to the publications they advertise in, etc. so you know what they’re doing, when they’re doing it. Even buy their products so you understand how their customer experience compares to yours. But this only gets you so far…

Second, steal from industry leaders across any industry.

Most people think that marketing happens just one or two ways in their industry for a reason.

Maybe that’s true but they usually get the reason wrong — it’s not because it’s the only way that works, it’s because your competitors are lazy. They found something that works moderately well and they quit trying to innovate.

And everybody copies everybody else for the same reason — laziness.

On the other hand, industry leaders are often that way for a reason. They apply proven strategies and tactics that get them to the top and keep them there. And they do it in unique ways that competitors don’t. They innovate.

If you can find out what those strategies and tactics are (hint: 6 Musts of Marketing for Top-of-Mind Awareness), you can duplicate them — even if they’re not currently used in your industry — and your growth of market share will continue.

Applying these strategies and tactics from outside of your industry will often lead to dramatic results — because you’re presenting your message to prospects and customers in a way that stands out. It’s unique. It gets attention. It makes sales.

Now — how to find marketing breakthroughs sitting inside your company

Even if you hire moderate performers, your employees have tons of ideas about how to do their jobs better (top performers will have even more, and they’ll be even more valuable). Whether it’s to save you money, increase sales, or introduce profitable product innovations — they know what to do. So listen up!

Your employees are a better source of profitable innovations in marketing, sales, and product innovation than anybody else. Especially the ones that are on the ground, talking to customers every day.

So why don’t you hear about these ideas? Because you don’t ask!

Often times employees will sit for weeks, months, or even years on profitable innovations you could introduce into your business, just because they don’t know that you’ll listen to their ideas and value them.

Sit down and let them contribute to the growth plan of your company. Don’t reject any ideas when brainstorming. And anything that might be plausible is worth a conservative test.

And when you find success — give your employees credit! Both in praise, and in a fair share of profits (whether that’s through a raise, or a bonus, or a contingency agreement).

Recap

1. Make sure you’re doing at least what your competitors are doing — that’s the bare minimum
2. Copy the strategies and tactics of industry leaders outside your industry
3. Ask your employees for their ideas about how to improve your business — then implement them and reward successes

That’s it for today. Best wishes.

- R

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