Don’t Just Tell. Show. Like this…3 min read
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Marketing is very simple. At its essence, marketing is communicating the value of whatever it is you’re offering.
When people who need what you’re offering truly get what your value is, some of them engage you and work with you. And pay you!
Is there a BIG secret to helping prospects really get your value?
Yes. Spend a lot less time telling what you do. Instead, spend a lot more time showing what you do.
Showing is another word for teaching. And also another word for marketing.
Showing = Teaching = Marketing
So, if literally everything you communicate to your world/community/ tribe is showing how to do things, explaining how things work, and actually demonstrating ideas in action, then you are doing great marketing.
If you do this kind of showing-teaching-marketing, you will never be short of great clients to work with.
Last week I shared that I do a combo of passive and proactive marketing.
Passive = Weekly newsletters with some marketing ideas you can use.
Proactive = Announcing a talk or webinar and giving it a few times, over an intensive one-month period.
But whether passive or proactive, they are both ways to do showing-teaching-marketing.
The marketing activity itself gives value. It helps people. Its main thrust is not to get something, but to give something.
But, of course, the old maxim, “give and ye shall receive” is also in action. If you give a lot, you’re bound to get a lot back.
But how can you show-teach-market in your own business?
Here are 7 simple ways that work:
How-to Tips: This is what I attempt to do each week in the Fearless Marketer newsletter – ideas you can apply in your efforts to attract clients. I do my best to keep the tips simple and doable. I usually have enough material simply from my weekly conversations with clients.
Free Samples: The ultimate free sample is a report or e-book that highlights your expertise. I’ve given away more than a hundred thousand reports on my website over the past 23 years. It’s been a great strategy to build my email list and starting a relationship with prospective clients.
Case Studies: This is the ultimate marketing show and tell. “Here was my client’s situation and challenges. Here are the things we helped the client do more successfully. This is the progress the client made. And here were the ultimate results from this engagement.” Very persuasive stuff!
Demonstrations: A demonstration can be a live and interactive sample of the work you do. It’s even more powerful if you use exercises or show hands-on how a model or concept works. This is your expertise in action, and actually produces results for prospects in real-time.
Insights: In my newsletter, I’ll often share my thinking and musings about a topic to help my readers gain a new perspective on a marketing idea or strategy. “Here’s why I think you should consider this approach in your marketing… What I realized was nobody was reading anymore… But when you give a presentation, you are live and have the undivided attention of your audience.”
Mistakes: Talking about mistakes is a great teaching approach. Everyone makes mistakes, so we can all relate to them. “Do you make these mistakes in English?” This was the headline for a correspondence course that ran in newspapers and magazines for 40 years! People seem to have an insatiable curiosity about mistakes they may be making.
Edutainment: If your marketing is fun and entertaining (to a degree) it’s going to be more approachable. “This quiz will not only help you improve your customer service, but those with a score of more than 50 will win a free prize.” Can you find a fun way to engage your prospective clients and give them value in the process?
Great marketing is about showing and teaching, but it also needs to be engaging and share real value.
Cheers, Robert
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