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

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?

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.