Daniel's notes on This Is Marketing

the story of your marketing… is a problem. It has to resonate with the listener, to tell them something they've been waiting to hear, something they're open to believing. It has to invite them on a journey where a change might happen. And then, if you've opened all those doors, it has to solve the problem, to deliver on the promise.

The best way to complain is to make things better. The first step on the path to make things better is to make better things. But better isn't only up to you. Better can't happen in a vacuum. Better is the change we see when the market embraces what we're offering. Better is what happens when the culture absorbs our work and improves. Better is when we make the dreams of those we serve come true.

It doesn't make any sense to make a key and then run around looking for a lock to open. The only productive solution is to find a lock and then fashion a key. It's easier to make products and services for the customers you seek to serve than it is to find customers for your products and services.

Things marketers know 1. Committed, creative people can change the world (in fact, they're the only ones who do). You can do it right now, and you can make more change than you can possibly imagine. 2. You cannot change everyone; therefore, asking, "Who's it for?" can focus your actions and help you deal with the nonbelievers (in your head and in the outside world). 3. Change is best made with intent. "What's it for?" is the posture of work that matters.

Things Marketers Know: 4. Human beings tell themselves stories. Those stories, as far as each of us is concerned, are completely and totally true, and it's foolish to try to persuade them (or us) otherwise. 5. We can group people into stereotyped groups that often (but not always) tell themselves similar stories, groups that make similar decisions based on their perceived status and other needs. 6. What you say isn't nearly as important as what others say about you.

I changed just one thing about the process. One thing that doubled the percentage of glasses sold. I changed the story from "Here's an opportunity to shop, to look good, to regain your sight, to enjoy the process, to feel ownership from beginning to end" to "Do you want us to take away what you have, or do you want to pay to keep the glasses that are already working for you?" Desire for gain versus avoidance of loss.

"People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole." But that doesn't go nearly far enough. No one wants a hole. What people want is the shelf that will go on the wall once they drill the hole. Actually, what they want is how they'll feel once they see how uncluttered everything is, when they put their stuff on the shelf that went on the wall, now that there's a quarter inch hole. But wait … they also want the satisfaction of knowing they did it themselves. Or perhaps the increase in status they'll get when their spouse admires the work. "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want to feel safe and respected." Bingo.

If you can bring someone belonging, connection, peace of mind, status, or one of the other most desired emotions, you've done something worthwhile. The thing you sell is simply a road to achieve those emotions, and we let everyone down when we focus on the tactics, not the outcomes.

When you're marketing-driven, you're focused on the latest Facebook data hacks, the design of your new logo, and your Canadian pricing model. On the other hand, when you're market-driven, you think a lot about the hopes and dreams of your customers and their friends. You listen to their frustrations and invest in changing the culture. Being market-driven lasts.

The myth of rational choice Microeconomics is based on a demonstrably false assertion: "The rational agent is assumed to take account of available information, probabilities of events, and potential costs and benefits in determining preferences, and to act consistently in choosing the self-determined best choice of action," says Wikipedia. Of course not.

the bet you'd be better off making is: "When in doubt, assume that people will act according to their current irrational urges, ignoring information that runs counter to their beliefs, trading long-term for short-term benefits and most of all, being influenced by the culture they identify with."