It’s a party and there is this guy – let’s call him Sikiru, who has just seen the girl of his dreams. You know, the one that has everything he has ever wanted in a girl. Sikiru doesn’t know her, but he has managed to convince himself she is the one.
His heart starts palpitating furiously and his knees go weak. She has others interest as well, so that makes Sikiru one of many interested in her in the party.
He starts thinking of how to get to her and what tactics to employ. He feels other guys in the room are thinking the same, so he has to act fast. After several minutes of debating what to do, he finally conjures up the confidence to move walk up to her.
He does so and greets her. For a brief moment, Sikiri has her undivided attention.
He is swallowing hard and his brain seems to have stopped working as she stares at him.
“Will you marry me?” He asks awkwardly.
“I don’t know you” She says incredulously “We’ve never even met before.” She adds.
Most businesses online are like Sikiru.
They want to sell without any previous relationship with their audience. They go straight to step three without having followed the due course.
A business is like a normal relationship. To get people on your side, you need to have done certain things.
The first thing you need to realize is that your Brand is not the hero. The hero should be the audience. When you realize this, it helps you put your marketing into perspective.
When the customer is the hero, you realize you are there for them and not for you. Your business is a mere guide in their journey.
A business that still puts itself as the hero is one that only tries to sell at every given turn. If all you do is post your product for sale on the internet, without any regard for your audience, then the message you are passing is that your Brand is selfish.
And more often than not, you will be wasting your time and resources because the internet doesn’t care for that. In life and in business, people are emotional, not rational.
No matter how much data in favor of how good a catch you are, you list off to a girl you just met, she is more than likely not listen to you and just disregard it.
And that is because of a lack of commitment and emotional attachment on her part.
It is the same with business.
They want to hear what your business have in stock for them, not what they have for your business. And the way they do that is to rely on their relationship with your brand.
A great social media post or brand story understands these and first of all tries to talk about what it solves.
Your post/messaging on social media should take this form, especially in the long run.
- Curiosity – Tell a story that gets your audience curious.
- Enlighten – When they are curious about what you do, then you put them first and enlighten them – make their lives better. You are not the hero. They are
- Commitment – It is only after you’ve put their interest first that they become committed to your brand. Only then should you sell. Only then.
After doing all these three, then you can sell.
Selling shouldn’t be the first thing you do. Well, except you want to be like Sikiru.