I do a lot of work with my own clients around “finding your 100 biggest fans” and building a product/service for them … and then growing from there. People always think their product/service is for everyone, and that just isn’t true. And it is much easier to sell to people who already want what you have instead of trying to convince the masses. One book I love related to all of this is: This is Marketing by Seth Godin.
The other thing I do with clients is to help them think about sales and marketing as relationship building and connection. How do you build connection and community and moments with your current and potential clients that makes them never want to look at another company. A book I adore related to this is: The Power of Moments by Chip + Dan Heath.
Other books I really like with good concepts:
- Made to Stick by Chip + Dan Heath
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
I know that many people focus on social media and influencers and preying on peoples’ eyeballs as their marketing strategies. But, those strategies don’t sit well with me — and the big companies that own the algorithms generally dictate who sees what, so as a business owner you have very little control over your own marketing. And often that kind of thing feels like a race to the bottom… But I also understand that as a business owner, it is hard not to be where everyone else is. Again, these are all just my personal views!