“The Penalty Box” is an article to get you to step outside of the box and into a new way of marketing–brand marketing. By The Strategy Addict, Shane Snively. This is part 2 of the brand series. Part 1: “Filling the Brand Gap“. And a drawing to make you think: “The Content Bridge“.
The products and services you offer are obviously important, but they aren’t what determines whether a client or customer picks you—you are.
Forget that truth, put too much energy into product marketing, and you’ll earn yourself a quick trip to what we call the Penalty Box.
What Is the Penalty Box?
What is the penalty box? It’s the box the prospect, the customer, and the community put you in. It is your label you are assigned. And it is the message that stops them from caring about you.
Simply put (although you may need to read this paragraph a few times), if you are what you do, then everyone who does what you do is the same as you–and you will be judged accordingly. That’s where your prospect won’t buy insurance from you because their cousin was taken advantage of by some other insurance agent. Or, let’s say you’re a roofer and you can’t charge what you’re worth because your client’s neighbor got a bad roof from somebody else. It’s the immediate judgment of who you are by people who don’t know who you are or what you stand for.
Do you ever get put in the penalty box? Why?
My guess is it’s because you sound like everyone else, you market like everyone else, you say roughly the same thing as everyone else—and then you expect to stand out.
The truth is, unless you are an extremely rare case, the only unique thing about what you do is you.
Don’t Put Yourself in the Penalty Box
It is time for you to step out of the old way of marketing and into a new way—the brand marketing way.
Brand marketing is different. Brand marketing is strategic. Brand marketing shifts the focus from you finding customers to them finding you. Brand marketing is a long-term investment.
Brand marketing is 100% original, always unique because it is about you, your journey, your story, the people, and experiences that have made you who you are.
Brand Marketing means content.
Content includes blogs, podcasts, videos, social media posts, website copy, direct messages, emails, presentations, conversations, and more. All of your content becomes a big part of your brand. It’s how you communicate with the public and let them know who you are and what you’re about.
Okay, Brand Marketing It Is. So Now What?
Not everyone is comfortable opening up the door to leave the penalty box. We were nervous ourselves early on in our content creation journey, and we’ve witnessed our clients go through this same process. But you do not have to go it alone. At KazCM, we open up the door for you. We take one step at a time together on the path to a better brand. We help you tell your story. We make sure the brand you want to build matches your overall goals. We make sure the content you create is something you’re proud to share.
We work with you to pull out real stories, the stories behind the stories.