Hot Melbourne
It’s been really hot the past few days in Melbourne. And, I don’t mean 30C, I mean stinking hot… 40C+. I work from home and I don’t have air-conditioning. I do have a trusty fan and a cold shower. And, sometimes that’s not enough.
Anyway, I decided it was too hot to work at home. And, I had a meeting in the afternoon, so I thought I’d pack up my laptop and head to the library near my meeting location. Great plan! My car has AC. It was a cool drive. I found a park under a tree one block from the library. I walked slowly to my destination, found a free table, unpacked my laptop and got to work. About five minutes I noticed that I was sweating.
The library was not cool. And I’m not talking about the decor. They either didn’t have AC, it wasn’t working or it was set too high.
I instantly packed up and left to go to a nearby cafe. I walked to my local favourite and when I got there I got an even bigger shock. The door was wide open and the windows had been peeled back. It was stinking hot inside! They had no AC either.
A Basic Business Question
This got me thinking about a rather basic business question… We usually ask:
What are you selling?
However, I think we should be asking:
What is your customer buying?
As my example shows, the cafe was selling food and drinks. I was prepared to buy that to get what I really wanted: cool. How does this apply to your business? What are you selling? And, what is your customer really buying?
Why You Need a Product
Previously, I wrote about 15 reasons to create products. A couple of days later I realised that the biggest reason for me to create products was not on my own list! Go figure.
I do create my products because I love creating things. (That wasn’t on my list either). After that I want the cash flow. And, the reason I want the cash flow is that my product plan is also my retirement plan. By creating and selling products I create my future lifestyle by the income I receive along the way.
Clearly, there are many reasons to create a product – obviously more than 15… The big challenge is to focus in on the big ones for your audience.
Your Marketing Strategy
Here’s how to apply this thinking to your business:
- Create a list of all the reasons that people buy from you.
- Then start to have conversations with your customers about what really matters.
- Refine your list to your top two or three.
- And, then build your promotional campaign and your content marketing around this.
