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Who would miss you if you didn't show up?

Who would miss you if you didn't show up?

 

Greetings,
I’ve got a cup of Davids Tea Organic Detox green tea on the go as I write this. My husband is on a bit of a health kick cutting back on coffee, so I’ve been sampling some of his brews. I've also been trying to kick a nasty cold that hasn't yet decided to leave the building, so the detox angle seems fitting! While I’m not personally ready to give up coffee anytime soon, I have to admit to enjoying tea for a change. How about you? Do you have something different in your cup this morning? Let me know! mary@charleson.ca
 
Thank you to those who reached out after last week’s content about “Thinking beyond social media”. I admit to bearing my soul as a marketer in sharing my love/hate relationship with social media, and how I struggle daily to benefit professionally through it, and enjoy the family and friend connections, while loathing the societal impact on mental health, addictive behavour, and the manipulation of journalism and truth which it fosters.
 
Perhaps it was in response to this ongoing feud in my head, that I’ve found myself gravitating increasing to thought leaders who advocate a “creating content, community and connection” approach to marketing. This has long been my favoured approach anyway, through content creation, but the way I create community and connection is a piece I’ll be giving more thought to in the coming months.  

I’m a long-time fan of marketing guru Seth Godin, and in a podcast I was listening to this past week, where he was being interviewed about his new book, “This is Marketing: You can’t be seen until you learn to see,” he dropped a few statements that stopped me in my tracks. The first was the question, “Who would miss you if you didn’t show up?” The second question was, “What is the smallest market you can survive on?”
 
The responses to these statements cut to the core of a value offering. If you’re not sure of how to respond yourself, you’re likely playing too mass market, or at risk of being seriously challenged by a competitor. And at the very least, you’re likely having to buy attention or continuously feed a hungry sales funnel.
 
Going niche and serving a minimally viable audience allows you to get out of the sales funnel mentality, or the need to buy attention on social media, simply because the community you create and serve so well, does your marketing for you.  
 
In Seth’s words, “Once you’ve identified the scale, then find a corner of the market that can’t wait for your attention. Go to their extremes. Find a position on the map where you, and you alone, are the perfect answer. Overwhelm this group’s wants and dreams and desires with your care, your attention, and your focus. Make change happen. Change that’s so profound, people can’t help but talk about it.”
 
It used to be we could buy attention cheap and turn it into sales and profits to then buy more attention. That in a nutshell was advertising. Social media and digital promotion has allowed us to measure clicks, shares and views, and to create funnels, and engage in direct sales. The funnel however, craves to be continuously fed.
 
Creating and serving a community I think is the ultimate marketing goal. Of course online tools can help with this, such as Facebook groups, Facebook live video broadcasts within those groups, LinkedIn groups, engagement in discussion and interaction, and helping foster learning between yourself and customers, but also among community members. Taking online into a hybrid with offline and face to face connections and community is another step. That’s how you take people on a journey. Marketing to people who are committed is then way easier then shouting at strangers. Growth happens when you focus your effort and attention on the smallest viable market and serve the heck out of it.
 
Who would miss you if you didn’t show up?
What is the smallest market you can survive on?
 
Those are the questions I'd like you to ponder this week. As always, hit reply at mary@charleson.ca and let me know what you think. And let’s put the social back in social media and use the tools for how they were created. But don’t forget, community extends far beyond online as well. Nurture and serve them well, and they will do your marketing for you.
 
Until next week
- Mary
 

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