Information vs. Action

Now I know a niche is as important as the next marketing/sales/business guru but there is an order to these things that may well be the difference between driving yourself mad and your sanity (and success).

For me the ‘right’ order is Thing first and Niche second.

Here’s what I see a lot… people marketing recipes: the ingredients for a cake – the step by step pieces you need.

But what a cake lover is more interested in is the finished article – what a cake lover buys is a CAKE! I get a lot more excited looking at a slice of carrot cake than I do a bag of flour, eggs, sugar, some carrots, a wooden spoon… and yet this is what I see a lot of people are ‘selling’ – the ingredients.

The adage is the customer is always right and yes, they are always right in that it’s their decision to buy or not to buy, BUT they might not always ‘be right’ about what they need to buy.

Time is usually up there with cash when you ask your average business owner what they’d most like more of. Another hour in the day or another day in the week would be many busy business owners ideal gift. But in reality you have all the time you need.

While I have completed a few 10ks in my time, I would never put myself in the category of being an athlete. What I do know about races though is that you don’t slow down when you see the finish line—you keep on running, and if you have it in you (there’s always that little bit in reserve, right?) then actually you speed up when you see it.

And you need to do this with your business goals and your marketing too.

I see it all the time. I even take advantage of it. Some businesses have too many discount sales and special offers – in fact it can seem like a permanent sale. I call this the DFS effect :)

But what happens? – no one buys at full price.