How are kayaks like your business?
(Photo by Wayne Wallace)
While visiting Massachusetts to speak at the Hallmark Institute of Photography graduating class, I went to have some lobster and clam chowder!
Every time I go back home to the east coast I try to get my fill of tasty seafood! MMMM!!!
As I was walking along the waterfront I saw a bunch of kayaks sitting in the water and it made me think of how business owners, especially photographers, market themselves.
BTW, I graduated from the Hallmark Institute of Photography just a few years before this at the top of my class and won the Prestigious Mamiya Award of Excellence and got published in American Photo Magazine.
(My Magazine Issue and Full Page Award)
You may ask what does this have to do with marketing?
Hang with me I'll get to that...
Once you learn what I have learned about marketing you will be thinking about marketing all the time, analyzing and deconstructing everything you see and relating it to marketing.
So here are my questions for you:
- How are these kayaks different?
- Which one would you choose and why?
- Which one is most like your marketing?
That's what your potential customer sees when they surf the web and look at different XYZ websites.
What was your answer to the question above, How do you choose which kayak you want to buy or rent?
It's probably much like how your potential customer chooses which business to buy from.
Price!
Your average consumer doesn't really care about the difference in the actual product or service. To them you basically look the same as every other XYZ business so you force them into the only choice they have -- to shop you based on price.
Competing based on price is not a good place to be and you need to find a way out of this hole as fast as possible or else you will always be marketing yourself based on price and discounting your services. I see this all the time in photography businesses.
What color is your kayak?
Are you the yellow or the orange kayak?
How do you differentiate your business to your potential customers?
Most successful businesses take a position in the market place and everything they do is geared at making that position clear and obvious to their potential customers.
Look at Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and the local Cafe. They all have a certain branding and position in the market place and people choose them based on this branding.
Today, I decided to go to the local coffee shop over Starbucks because it's small and out of the way and not real busy, they have great coffee and make my cup of joe from scratch, they grind the beans and pour the hot water over the freshly ground beans on the spot.
Don't be a commodity (or just another kayak)
- Be unique
- Be remarkable
- Stand for something
- Make everything about that something
- Give people a reason to choose you because of that over price
Recent Comments
51
As always great blog my friend .I would of gone for the orange that has the bigger opening but would of preferred it Blue .lol
I like that! I too have found that too many of us both in business and life in general try to be like everybody else! This will not get us very far. We need to be ourselves while learning from others etc. Thanks for the post Wayne!
Wayne, as a salon owner, I have to offer my clients better service than the other salons. I have to stand out and sometimes go above and beyond, I go to training on the newest things coming out in the beauty business. I do this not only because I want to be successful, I want my customers to know that they are the most important part of my business.
Brenda
Think a little deeper, anyone can say they give great service. Maybe you provide a foot massage for free, just a thought?
A very long and relaxing shampoo, I also give rides to my elderly ladies. Provide many free services for ladies that are looking for jobs and can't afford to get a cut and color.
Brenda
Going above and beyond is great, consider just one thing to be known for no matter who the client is. You can still go above and beyond but what's that one signature thing that everyone gets?
Also you want to pick that one thing that's hard for the salon down the street to duplicate and be a copycat
OK, let me go this way. Everyone of my clients come in and know matter how bad their day has been when each one of them leave feeling better than when they came in. You know this hair business is the best because I can have someone come in and they think that they are not that pretty and with a little color or cut they feel like a million bucks. You know Wayne my salon is actually my therapy. Don't know if I can go any deeper hahaha
Brenda
I truly enjoy all your posts and trainings, keep up the good work. I probably wouldn't pick any color I like pink. Hahaha
Hi Wayne! What an interesting article! I'm the blue Kayak! Oh no! Seriously this was very thought provoking because I never looked at my marketing strategy through your "lens". What a different look it becomes. We seem to equate marketing with words. How different it is when you look at it through your own visuals. Thank you so much for your wonderful and continual contributions!
It is your USP or unique selling point. In this new internet World, I suppose that is the quality of your website, its layout and content among other things.
yes, maybe it's that you call people personally and thank them for their order? Zappos provides great customer service. Their record is 10 hours on the phone with a customer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/zappos-10-hour-call_n_2345467.html
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Great post and very helpful. If you think your website looks amazing, chances are other people will too. if you think the content is interesting then other people will too. Make it an extension of yourself. If you love it, other people will love it. We're all unique yes, but not so unique that our tastes and interests don't match those of other people. Have faith in the niche you choose and make it the best for you.
Thanks Jenni!