Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

The Marketing Secret No One Talks About

When it comes to marketing ‘secrets’ tactics always get mentioned.  They have their place but they’re a bit over-rated.  

It’s better to understand principles.  Like, WHY you do what you do.  Your story is SO important.  It’s what holds it all together like Gorilla Glue.  

If you don’t pump your why into your story you risk being generic.  It’s like baking a cake with no sugar.  You can call it cake it but…almost no one will want to eat it.

In 2009 Simon Sinek introduced us to what he calls the Golden Cirlce.  And no, it’s not a new James Bond movie.  

I love Sinek’s work.  And when I first saw his TED talk video it hit me like a brick to my chest.  His philosophy works like this.  Most leaders (and successful companies) market and talk about WHAT they do.

• We deliver sandwiches the fastest.  

• We unlock your greatest potential  

• Our pizza is the best tasting.

 

These things are Unique Selling Propositions (USPs).  They work for a while until someone does what you do better.  You have an alternative though…

WHY.

If you talk about WHY you do what you do, now you are a original story.  People know what you stand for.  They know why they should care or why they should have nothing to do with you.  

Many pros think they need a story like Brendon Burchard who almost died in a car accident to find his why.   It makes a for a cool story but you don’t need ALL that drama.

There’s a book called Save The Cat.  According to the author Blake Synder  there’s only 10 genres to EVERY movie ever made!  Ten!  And just about every song ever written was made with 7 notes.  

Don’t fear simplicity, embrace it.

Focusing on and marketing with your why is the real secret sauce of standing out.   

John Carpenter said, “Movies are about making mental things physical”.  That’s what we do too.  A person wants a change in their life and they hire you to help them make waves.

But none of that happens if you keep freaking out looking for great headlines and SEO rankings.

Adam

Why posting on social was like a staph infection

Originally I never did social media for my art business.  I couldn’t stand it.  No matter what Gary V or the gurus I love said.  I enjoyed posting on social about as much as a staph infection.

It’s because I was doing what everyone else was doing.  By posting my art and saying how cool it was or how excited I was making it, it bored me to tears.  

And worse.

There was no ROI to justify the time I spent.  I may as well been brushing my daughter’s cat.

What changed?  I added more of me.  My art became secondary.  I talked about my inspiration behind each drawing and what drove me to make it.  

My thought was, art is everywhere.  Why should someone watch my page?  To get the story.  The story is what connected people to me.

The same is true for you.  

I get you want to talk about your transformations and sales stats.  That’s cool.  But most people don’t care and they won’t know you any better than the next guy.  

And there’s a lot of guys out there…

Market however you want but don’t be afraid to talk about you.  YOU is what makes YOU unique.  YOU is why I should want to hire you.  

Leaving YOU out is like watching Rocky or The Empire Strikes Back with all the good parts taken out.

A Market of One

If you have a marketing problem, you probably have a storytelling problem.  Marketers talk about storytelling.  A lot.  Musicians talk about it.  Screenwriters talk about it.  It’s important.  I even give away a free book showing you how to do it better.  

Something is missing though.  It’s missing in your google search.  It’s missing in my PDF, and it’s probably missing from your website.

It’s YOU.  

Instead of telling people the glamour and glitz as to why you’re better tell them why you care instead.  Tell them what drives you and what made you who you are today.  

I received a 3×8 inch flyer on my house door.  It was black text on yellow paper and it had no pictures.  I have no idea if the flyer is a winner but I thought it was brilliant because it was so different.  The text began like this:

THERE’S A “HANDYMAN” IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

My name is Brandon.  My wife, family and I have lived in Surprise for the past few years.  For a number of years I have been a part of the residential remodeling and repair industry.  I now operate “My Neighborhood Handyman….

Within a  few sentences you know what he does, who he is, his background, and where he lives.  Immediately he has rapport with me and I imagine many others in my neighborhood too.  Yet, this little flyer shatters most marketing wisdom…

Where’s his compelling headline?  Where is the problem?  Why isn’t he agitating it?  Where’s the visuals?  You can’t market with just text?

Yes, you can.  When it’s you.  When you become a market of one you can ignore many of the rules.  Why?  Because sales happen when your audience knows, likes, and trusts you.  What can do that more than telling them who you are?

The Intention Behind Your Work

When I left my day job to be a full-time artist I created an intention.  I vowed that my art would make a difference in the lives of people.  At first I didn’t really even know what that truly meant.  

All I knew is that maybe after seeing one of my sketches online or comic books, it might make someone’s day just a little brighter.  

I didn’t think in terms of creating an intention back then I just knew in my soul that my art was about more than #2 pencils or what brush I used in Photoshop.

When I started helping business people I just wanted to “give back”.  Even though I never said it out loud I basically used the same intention from before.  How could the lessons that I’ve learned make a difference in the lives of people? 

I remember Oprah did this when she moved her talk show from tabloid content worthy of the National Enquirer to doing work that mattered.  She said she asked her producers for the intention behind each show they pitched her.  If it didn’t align with her values she wouldn’t do it.

What is your intention behind who you serve?

Marketing Impossible to Ignore

“To become more fascinating, you don’t have to change who you are. You have to become more of who you are.”   

-Sally Hogshead

If I could summarize my biggest shift in marketing over the last year it would be becoming more of who I am.  I admit I do have an interesting story as a comic book artist turned marketing guy but that just scratches the surface.  Why should you care?

Marketers promote their secret sauce nowadays, but too many miss showing empathy and understanding.  It’s so easy to get caught up into tactics, systems, and great subject lines.  When everyone is doing and saying the same stuff we all become easy to ignore.  

What’s near impossible to ignore?  Understanding.  When you speak to your ideal customer with empathy they think, ‘he gets me.’  And from then on you’ll have a person who WANTS to hear from you, read your emails, and look at your ads.