What is your story? Every marketer tells a story. And, if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is cooler than a $36,000 VW Touareg, which is virtually the same car. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet feel better than $20 no-names… and believing it makes it true.
Successful marketers don’t tell the truth. They don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe. Painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe.
Every organization – from non-profits to car companies, from political campaigns to wine glass blowers – must understand that the rules have changed again. In an economy where the richest have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories.
Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview. A story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. Think of the Dyson vacuum cleaner and the iPod. Marketers fail when they are selfish and scurrilous, when they abuse the tools of their trade and make the world worse.
In today’s market, success isn’t about incremental improvement. It’s about bold, fundamental differences. You can’t achieve rapid growth by being just a little bit better than the competition. It’s not enough to get people to switch. You’ll be ignored in favor of the incumbent. At best, you’ll grow as fast as the market does – no more.
Success is at the edges. Don’t be tentative.
Be Extreme. Paul C. Williams
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