Do You Know Your Main Thing?

 

 

It’s your core gift to the world.  It inspires you, scares you and delights you.

Your main thing is what you stand up for even when pinned against the wall.

You dream about your main thing.  It gives you energy and joy.

Your main thing is what you get known for in your business.

Your main thing can be a combination of several beliefs that you hold (for me, it’s helping values-based businesses (values are a main thing for me) grow into remarkable companies (impact is my other main thing).

If you are unclear about your main thing, business-growth AND peace-of-mind becomes difficult and your confidence suffers.

Once you know your main thing, you become unstoppable.  Your success is defined by happiness, confidence, financial benefits and the impact you always wanted to have on the world.

How can you discover your main thing with all that is out there to distract you?
1.   Make time for yourself!  Drop your to-do list and make the discovery of your main thing the most important “thing” to do.
2.   Remove all logic from your mind, meaning ignore for a while all the voices telling you how your main thing is impractical, impossible and unattainable.
3.   Write, write and write.  Don’t censor. Let your pen flow.
4.   Continually ask yourself the question: “What would I do if I was not afraid, not tied down, not limited? What would I do, say or even think if I was brave?
5.   Then let your main thing “float” over you, get a hold of you, capture you.  Let it give you energy and courage.

Know that the world needs you to express your main thing. We need you to be courageous, we need your strong message, we need you to be YOU!

We want to know what makes you different.
We’ll pay you well for your distinctiveness, your uniqueness. Let me know your main thing. Get a discussion started on the blog.  Spread your wings; let us hear your voice.

As I am delighted with my main thing of becoming the go-to-person for conscious entrepreneurs who want help launching their amazing life-affirming products into the world, it makes my heart sing that I can be part of that process and with it make the world a better, fairer place.

Let us know yours.
What’s your main thing? If you know it will you honor us by sharing it?

Caution: Don’t Copy Hollywood’s Hype-Marketing, but…

 

 

 

…copy what it does so masterfully!

We surely see how Hollywood is doing it.  You can’t escape it.  Every time you go to the movies, you are exposed to amazing trailers put together in this seemingly perfect fashion of fast-flashing images, emotional music and well-selected conversation clips.  

We get drawn into the story, we love the sense of anticipation for what is to come, we long to see the movie NOW…and as marketers we also wonder how we could create that same sense of anticipation in our audience, for our products and services.  

And we can and we should look for Hollywood’s teaching but with caution.  

 As entrepreneurs committed to doing business in a way that delivers honest value to our clients, we often struggle with the perceived need to “hype” our products up in order to stand out.  We’d rather under-promise than over-hype.  And here is where we can be cautious but alert students of Hollywood:  Some facts:

1. Storytelling works.  In Hollywood and on YOUR website.  

2. Triggering Emotions works.  In Hollywood and in YOUR sales copy.

3. Enticing video clips work.  In Hollywood and in YOUR video blog.

4. Over-promising DOESN’T work.  Not in Hollywood and not in YOUR business.

Here is where Hollywood gets it wrong.  

You all have experienced what I am talking about.  A great movie trailer, full of funny dialogue, great stories and beautiful music.  You wait for the day of release, you make time to stand in line and then… you get two hours of disappointment.  The dialogue you saw in the trailer was the best words uttered in the whole entire movie.  The story line was so lame, you could have come up with a better one.  The special effects were overdone and used as a crutch rather than an amazing tool…

Long story short, you leave disappointed and determined to never fall for it again…

And that is the GREATEST mistake Hollywood makes.  

By disappointing you, their customer, they now have to hype up the next movie even more in order for you to believe in their product.  They now got themselves into a vicious cycle of hype, to “uber”-hype, to… an industry that is extinguishing itself slowly but surely.  The hyped-up sales model is not a sustainable model…and you can see that by the fact that movies have to now make their money back on that first opening weekend or they lose money!

But, back to you, the entrepreneur with integrity.  What’s there to do?  

Let’s look at the word “hype” a little closer.  To me, “hype” describes an excessive claim or promise that is not justified by the product.  That’s all. So, if your product or service is amazing, is top quality, then letting others know about it with great storytelling, by triggering emotions and by creating anticipation is perfectly ok.  
But so many honest and purpose-driven entrepreneurs “throw the baby out with the  bathwater” because they are afraid of appearing to hype their product up.  Result: A boring headline on their website, timid copy describing their services, benefits that are understated..you know what I mean.

 

Action plan: Take out your promotional material today!  See where you can:

• create some more emotions
• involve your audience
• create excitement
• stir up some feelings
• get people to anticipate a release of your newest product 
• AND watch movie trailers as marketing lessons BUT make sure you deliver on your promise! (which I have no doubt you will).

Until next time for more “anti-obscurity” tips,

Christiane

P.S. Share how you feel about Hollywood trailers.  What do you like or not like about them below in the comment section.