A matter of degree

Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-person-holding-a-diploma-and-a-graduation-hat-12752021/*

 by Ariella Brown

I  got this question from someone on LinkedIn: "If I might ask a question, how do you feel your PhD has helped you in your content writing?"

I'm not a degree snob. In truth, you don't need a PhD to produce content. Some people manage quite well with no degree at all.

The reason I completed the degree back in my early youth is that I thought I'd make a career in academia. Several years of adjuncting disabused me of that notion.

Here's the gist of the answer: 

It helps in ways most people don't appreciate because they think about content marketing as just applying SEO tricks (plug in the keywords, use the right tags, follow a template, and put in a clickbait headline).

You get boring, predictable, and disappointing content when that's all you've got. Even if the information is accurate -- and it frequently is not -- it is not going to be a pleasure to read.

Aiming for high quality content takes more than formulas. And that's where the skills related to earning a PhD are relevant:

🗃1. The ability to do research to find out what you need to know about the industry, product, and the customers who use it to present a clear and accurate account rather than fudging things.
🔍2. Obsession with tracing quotes to the original source
This is very important in an industry in which people tend to copy each other and lose the context and the year of the stat, presenting old information as if it's current.
🗺3. Vision combined with practical planning
Completing a PhD doesn't just take a big idea but organization, persistence and an understanding of how to break down a huge project that last years into smaller steps. You have to do the same when planning a content marketing strategy and content calendar.
📚4. The best models for content in your head
I have a lot of literature in my head that I can draw on to make interesting connections and offer memorable phrases that resonate.

*Yes, I used a stock photo to represent a graduation. I didn't attend any of my own since the 8th grade. 

You can download and read my dissertatio here: CUNY Academic Works

Learn more about what I've done as a content marketing specialist, particularly for B2B tech, here: Experience and Testimonials To book a free phone consultation, use this Calendly link 

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Bard brings in the clowns for my query on ICP

 

by Ariella Brown

I've been reading Built to Last, a 1994 book about  successful businesses. None of the business models relied on the internet, and many of them already had many decades of history behind them. I noticed that the jargon in the book is quite different from today's.

For example, there is not a single mention of ICP (ideal customer profile). That made me curious. Did this term only emerge after the book's publication?

I turned to Bard ( see why here) for the answer, which also explains why this term emerged only in the post-internet world. This is what it wrote, and I have to admit being somewhat amused by the somewhat pushy CTA at the end and if the "I" is meant to be the AI itself:

The term "ideal customer profile" (ICP) was first used in the early 2000s by marketing and sales professionals. It was originally used to describe a hypothetical company that would be the perfect fit for a particular product or service. However, the term has since been adopted by businesses of all sizes and industries.

 

There are a few reasons why businesses started referring to ICPs. First, it became clear that not all customers are created equal. Some customers are more likely to be profitable than others. By understanding the characteristics of their ideal customers, businesses can focus their marketing and sales efforts on the most likely to convert.

 

Second, the rise of the internet made it easier for businesses to collect data about their customers. This data can be used to create detailed ICPs that take into account factors such as company size, industry, location, and pain points.
Finally, the increasing complexity of the marketplace made it more difficult for businesses to compete on price alone. By understanding their ideal customers and their needs, businesses can differentiate themselves from the competition and offer products and services that are truly valuable.

 

Today, ICPs are an essential part of any successful marketing and sales strategy. By creating a detailed ICP, businesses can improve their targeting, messaging, and conversion rates. This can lead to increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, and a stronger bottom line.
Here are some of the benefits of using an ICP:

 

Increased sales: By targeting your marketing and sales efforts to your ideal customers, you can increase your chances of closing deals.

 

Improved customer satisfaction: When you understand the needs of your ideal customers, you can deliver products and services that are more likely to meet their expectations.

 

Stronger bottom line: By improving your sales and customer satisfaction, you can increase your profits.

 

If you're not already using an ICP, I encourage you to start today. It's a simple but powerful tool that can help you take your business to the next level.

Notice that Bard is very bullish on ICPs, even pushy, I'd venture to say. That turns out to be a bit funny when it fails to recognize the acronym for my next query for a more recent business bible.

Clowns you say? 

I also recently read The Hard Thing About Hard Things published in 2014. I don't recollect a single mention of  ICP. Just to be sure, I asked Bard, which shows a kind of split personality when it comes to recalling acronyms. This was its response:

No, the book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz does not mention ICP. ICP stands for Insane Clown Posse, a hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The book is about the challenges of running a startup company, and ICP is not relevant to that topic.
The book does mention a few other bands, such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. However, these bands are mentioned in the context of how they have influenced the music industry. ICP is not mentioned in the book at all.

Knowing that when you work with generative AI you have to try your prompt multiple times, I get it another whirl and wrote out "ideal customer profile" for the query. Now Bard grasped what I was asking and responded:

"The book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz does not explicitly mention the need for an ideal customer profile. However, the book does talk about the importance of knowing your target market and understanding their needs. This is essentially what an ideal customer profile is.

 

In Chapter 1, Horowitz writes, "The first thing you need to do is figure out who you're building for." He goes on to say that you need to "understand their pain, their goals, and their constraints." This is all information that would be included in an ideal customer profile.
In Chapter 2, Horowitz writes about the importance of "building a product that people actually want." He says that you need to "get feedback from your customers early and often." This is another way of saying that you need to understand your target market and their needs.
Overall, while the book does not explicitly mention the need for an ideal customer profile, it does emphasize the importance of understanding your target market and their needs. This is essentially what an ideal customer profile is.

 

Here are some additional tips for creating an ideal customer profile:
Identify your target market. Who are you trying to sell to? What are their demographics? What are their needs and wants?
Research your target market. What are they reading? What are they talking about online? What are their pain points?
Create a persona. Once you have a good understanding of your target market, create a persona. This is a fictional representation of your ideal customer.

 

Use your ideal customer profile to guide your marketing and sales efforts. Use your persona to create content, develop marketing campaigns, and target your sales efforts.

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A matter of degree

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Should you market like Apple or OpenAI?

by Ariella Brown

When it comes to winning through marketing, there are two divergent strategies that can deliver spectacular results. We’ve seen them at work in recent months with the launch of new offerings that have generated massive hype.

Aim high or low 

One marketing approach is based on mass distribution to get people to sample your offering for free while adding to the hype about it. The other is based on loyalty to a strong brand that has won over fans willing to pay a premium price.  

Which one you choose depends on what kind of product you are offering and what your brand position is. As loyalty is only earned over time and through people’s positive experience with products, Apple’s marketing is not usually going to work for a new kid on the block. 

ChatGPT takes the low road to success

Understanding that, OpenAI took the tactic of mass distribution on a scale we have not seen before. It launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 and attracted over a million users in the first five days.  

In just  two months, it hit 100 million monthly active users, which made it “the fastest-growing consumer application in history,”  Reuters reported.  It now boasts of 1.8 billion visits a month, and many of those visitors are happy to pay the  $20 a month subscription for ChatGPTplus, which was introduced in February. 

What made ChatGPT take off so rapidly was the build-up of hype that continued to grow as a result of people being able to gain access to generative AI on their own devices simply by registering and logging in.  Remove any barriers to entry – like cost or the need for specialized equipment — and you get to enjoy rates of PLG (product-led growth).

Apple takes the high road

In contrast to OpenAI, Apple already has a well-established customer base eager to experience its new offerings. Accordingly, it doesn’t have to offer free access and can seriously expect people to pay $3499 for the Apple Vision Pro that is to become available for sale only in 2024. 

Why unveil something a half a year before you can even preorder it? To heighten the anticipation and the satisfaction the early adopters will feel when they are among the first to obtain the latest offering from a brand they love.

Even at this stage, they are all reading the tweets, viewing the videos, and asking questions that show a high level of interest. That level of engagement combined with the reviews from all the tech journalists who got to play with the headset create a type of hype that is more rarified than that surrounding ChatGPT but just as impactful.

Would you buy it? 

Apple can price its headset that the average consumer can’t afford because it has millions of fans already who know and love its products. Within those millions are tens of thousands who would not consider the price tag too high for the bragging rights that come with being among the first to have this new offering.

Sure, there will be imitators putting out cheaper versions of the headset. But that’s always been the case for Apple devices. True fans insist that you get what you pay for and you shouldn’t settle for second-best.

On the other hand, OpenAI had the difficult job of rousing interest in something intangible that couldn't be photographed or shown to advantage on video. You could have accounts of individual user experiences, but those don't generally generate the response of "Want!" the way videos do.

What do you do when you’re offering something people haven’t had before from a brand that has yet to establish its reputation? You offer free samples, and that’s just what OpenAI did – very successfully.  Once it had enough people hooked and even boasting about making it integral part of their businesses, it rolled out the premium version that most people could afford to pay.

Which are you?

"Know thyself"  is the basis of determining your course of action in life and in business. If you’ve established yourself as a premium brand that can trade on exclusivity, you can offer high end products to your fan base.  But if you’re an unknown quantity, you have to win over the masses to at least give your offering a try to build up a loyal following. 

What’s the tell? How many followers identify themselves as such is one indicator. Notice that even in its current heyday, OpenAI’s 2.3 million Twitter follower are dwarfed by Apple’s CEO’s 14.1 million. (No doubt, Steve Jobs’ numbers would be even higher if he were still alive today).

Most businesses will never attain Apple’s superstar status, but they can still follow the high road of marketing after establishing their brand as a leader in the market. And for those whose offering is not suited for premium pricing, OpenAI’s incredible rate of adoption proves that it is also possible to go from zero to millions in just a few months.

So long as you know what you're about and who makes up your target market, you can adopt the right strategy and follow the high, low, or middle marketing road to success.  

For help determining with marketing path to take and what type of content can help you get there visit WriteWayPro and  book a free consultation call.

Related: https://writewaypro.blogspot.com/2023/05/did-open-ai-open-pandoras-box.html

On Target

 

by Ariella Brown

Two years ago I wrote a blog entitled Fixing What Ain’t Broken at Target that criticized the proposed change to the retailer's tagline. I remembered it today when I saw that Target is still showing its original tagline in its circulars. Either it read my blog or heard many others echo its sentiments before committing to a marketing mistake. 

What a slogan should not be

Forgetting the wisdom of if it's ain't broke, don't fix it, Target is replacing " “Expect More. Pay Less,” the tagline it has been using with great success since 1984 with “What we value most shouldn’t cost more.”

As I pointed out at the time, while that sentiment is very close to the original brand promise of value for less, it’s actually far weaker. It is neither making a promise for the brand to deliver, nor is it coming up with a clear solution.

I remembered this when I came across the Target virtual circular. I'm happy t to report tht the tagline it shows is still the original rather than the monstrosity suggested in 2021.

What a slogan should be

Slogans are meant to be short, to the point, and indicative of a call to action.

When Nike declares, “Just do it,” they’re using just three syllables to not only capture a feeling but direct customers to act on it. Apple’s “Think different” did the same thing.

Unoriginal though it may be, the original Target tagline captured its mission statement with a clear CTA to customers in just four short words. It’s now being replaced by something much longer that sounds more like a complaint than a solution.

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Building Alone Doesn't Lead to Success

by Ariella Brown

 

"If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door."

That  adage is false.
In fact, you could even say that it's a trap.

If you believe it, you'll end up with a warehouse full of mouse traps but no revenue. To leverage your improvement into a source of income, you have to reach prove to them that your solution works better for people who are dealing with a mouse problem.

That's why you need good content that demonstrates an understanding of pain points and demonstrates how your product solves them. You also need to make sure to reach the people whose problems you will solve. There's not much point in marketing your offering to someone who has no need for it.

That's why you need to a marketing plan from day one. I wrote this on LinkedIn post earlier today, and this evening I came across Peter Thiel's expression of the same idea in Chapter 11 (p. 127) of Zero to One:

    In Silicon Valley, nerds are skeptical of advertising, marketing, and sale because they seem superficial and irrational. But advertising matters because it works. ... You may think that you're an exception; that your preferences are authentic, and advertising only works on other people. .... But advertising doesn't exist to make you buy a product right away; it exists to embed subtle impressions that will drive sales later. Anyone who can't acknowledge its likely effect on himself is double  deceived."

Thiel ads this observation on p. 130: "If you've invented something new but you haven't invented an effective way to sell it, you have a a bad business -- no matter how good the product."  

In case you read the title as a reference to being alone, I have another blog on working alone  that goes in a different direction. 

Related: 

Don't just aim for different
Visualizing the customer journey

What makes content marketing effective
What the Little Prince teaches us about marketing

Think marathon rather than sprint

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