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30 DIGS.NET | 9.6.2019 Repetition makes dents. If you want your marketing efforts to make a dent and develop mindshare with consumers in your target market, your brand needs to consistently show up and be visible. The million-dollar question – where should you show up? Thanks for asking, I love great questions! Where, how, and when you market your brand is all-important! Don't be a fool and rush in. It's time to ask more questions and double-down on applying the word relevance to your marketing efforts. It's not enough to know where your customers are and how to reach them. You need to understand where the attention is being paid, and make sure it's relevant to the customer's problem-solving journey. Where do they go to find information that's relevant to solving their problems, and what resources are they using to educate and empower them along the way? Understand that consumer attention is scarce and invaluable in marketing. Seth Godin wrote the seminal marketing book "Permission Marketing," and coined the phrase "interruption marketing" in the late 90's – and its message and impact is even more important today. From Seth Godin's Permission Marketing: "Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them." A marketing idiom that leaves a mark. Most people associate the making of dents in a negative way. Consider the Merriam-Webster definition – to decrease something slightly or to make something weaker. In the business and marketing world however, making a dent is a good thing. It means you have left an impression, one that is visible and perhaps remarkable in the positive sense. Steve Jobs said it best, "We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?" The dent that Apple and Steve Jobs have made in the universe is legendary – and his place in history is secure. But not everyone is Steve Jobs – so how will you make your dent in the universe? First, define your universe. Who is your customer? What problems do they have and seek to solve? What do they need? How can you help? Where are they? How will you reach them? If you sell real estate – it's your local community, that's where the buyers and sellers are. But don't stop there, the more you can define and refine your market the better. Find the minimum viable audience and neighborhoods that you can specialize in and do your best work, build trust and grow from there. Gain your market's trust by creating a sense of empathy between you and your potential customers by emphasizing their needs and priorities over all others. Understand their fears, frustrations, and desires - help them articulate and prioritize. Develop a vision for the market, tell your story about how their lives could be improved and enriched by partnering with you and utilizing your services. It's about positioning your customers so they can "win the day," not about selling your products or services. Warning – if you seek to "sell everything to everyone," you'll end up selling "nothing to no one." At best, your brand will become a wandering generality and commodity in the marketplace. How to make a dent P U B L I S H E R ' S M U S E "It recognizes the new power of consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention." Repetition is not interruptive if your marketing message is anticipated, personal, and relevant. Dents leave a lasting impression. We know marketing repetition makes dents, but the actual dent is made over time by hitting the same spot, over and over again. The exact same is true with marketing. We are living in the connection era – our world is digitally connected and only a click away. The allure and ease of audience reach makes it increasingly difficult to find the "sweet spot" to hit with your repetitive marketing so that it creates an impact. This is where "simplicity becomes the ultimate sophistication." A great question that Seth Godin asks, "is it better to be everywhere a little, or a few places a lot?" Think of this as you attempt to make a dent in the universe. Brands that create the biggest dents in the market usually pick one "signature" communication channel and "hit it hard and often." Sure, it's fine to diversify your marketing and messaging, but pick one to focus on and make it your special imprint that's "anticipated, personal, and relevant." Remember, the very act of advertising with repetition to a specific audience will make your brand more trusted, because consumers understand that your brand has a social reputation to maintain. In marketing, frequency leads to awareness, awareness to familiarity, and familiarity to trust. And for brands, trust is everything. Until next time ~ Warren J Dow | Publisher wdow@Southbaydigs.com | 310.373.0142

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