Marketing is about telling stories. (Read Seth Godin’s All Marketers are Liars.)

Change comes from emotions. (Read Chip and Dan Heath’s Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.)

ChristopherLandry.com

Meet Chris Landry. He helps people just like you tell their story. He’s like a spotlight that shows the world who and what you are. He’s also good people.

As Chris says:

Business Heretics Radio is coming soon. I’ll be joined by Tom Berarducci, who’s one smart guy with decades of experience in one of the largest corporate environments on the planet.

When we were discussing the format of the show, Tom, ever the organised planner, suggested stockpiling show ideas so we weren’t scrambling at the last minute.

Joel D Canfield

Tom Berarducci

I said, “Nah. How ’bout we talk about whatever’s happening that week, so it’s always fresh and hot?”

What? Don’t tell people what it’s about? How will they know to tune in for shows they’re interested in?

Well, they won’t.

We’re not looking for listeners who are interested in a particular topic. Those folks, as much as I love each and every one of them, really I do, can Google it up and read for days. And watch video and listen to audio. For days.

What we’re looking for is listeners who connect with us. If they like listening to Tom and I, well, they’ll like listening. They’ll come back. They’ll become those ‘fans’ we all read about.

Information-seekers will land, learn, and leave. Fans stick around.

You know which you are. Yeah; you. Right there. You fan, you; thanks.

There’s a particular orchid which creates a remarkable product.

One flower produces one fruit. No mass production.

The flower lasts about one day, sometimes less, and so, growers have to inspect their plantations every day for open flowers, a labor-intensive task.

Like other orchids’ seeds, its  seeds will not germinate without the presence of a certain fungus. In nature, it’s a rare occurrence, which is why orchids aren’t on every kitchen counter.

Each flower must be hand-pollinated within 12 hours of opening.

It takes the fruits 5 to 6 weeks to develop but it takes around 9 months for it to mature.

Each ripens at its own time, requiring a daily harvest. To ensure the finest flavor each fruit must be picked by hand just as it begins to split on the end.

It is the second most expensive spice in the world, after saffron.

So why has the word ‘vanilla’ come to mean bland, boring, the brainless default option?

Imitation vanilla has given us all a bad impression of real vanilla. Have some good quality vanilla bean ice cream tonight; taste it like a fine wine, and see if genuine doesn’t, in fact, beat artificial.

Oh, and while you’re eating it, consider what that means in your marketing and your business.

James comes home for lunch most days since he only works two miles from home (which is two miles farther than I ever want to commute again.)

One day recently he came in ranting about the incredibly annoying commercial he’d just heard on the radio. “Are they intentionally trying to alienate people?”

Well, sort of.

Some thoughts that emerged during the conversation that ensued:

The commercial was for a fast-food joint I happen to know James won’t eat at. He didn’t find it funny, although it tried to be. The company spokesperson irritates him. The whole tenor of the commercial grated.

They weren’t talking to him, though. They were talking to folks who are already customers, already fans.

Why would they do that? Why would they create an ad that annoys non-fans instead of converting them? Why not find a way to get that non-fan to come in for the new special deluxe extra whatever?

Because it’s not a good business model. That non-fan may try the special, but if they’re already indifferent or, as in this case, antagonistic, you will not create a convert, a promoter. You’ll make a single sale, or a couple single sales, but not a convert.

What about existing fans–folks who already there? Well, that’s exactly who the ad is for.

Existing fans were already thinking about trying the new special deluxe extra. A little nudge today, a little nudge tomorrow, and pretty soon they’ll remember to have lunch there instead of heading home. And if they like it, it’s one more thing to like about a place they’re already a fan of.

And what to fans do when they learn something new about their favorite this, that, or other thing?

They recruit more fans. No, they don’t try to convert the indifferent, they talk to folks they’ve already inspected as to fitness, folks who are likely converts. They’ll share what they love, extend an invitation, and probably make one or two converts in the process.

Write your marketing materials for your existing fan base. Don’t waste time trying to convert the indifferent. Give your fans a flag to rally ’round and a message to go with it, and send them forth.

The result is the Holy Grail of marketing: genuine word of mouth.

I keep stumbling across older books that never caught my attention before. I’m currently reading two excellent books by Harry Beckwith: Selling the Invisible (1997) and The Invisible Touch (2000) which I’d never heard of before two weeks ago. Maybe I wasn’t ready.

“Many outstanding big-picture thinkers are always looking for, and burdened by, this search for perfection. But too often, the path to perfection leads to procrastination.

Don’t let perfect ruin good.”

—Selling the Invisible, p. 76

“For years, physicists discussed an important phenomenon: the gravitationally completely collapsed object.

Physicists knew these objects had profound implications. These objects could answer the question “How did the universe be begin, and how might it end?”

For years, this discussion was just among leading physicists. Then some creative physicist devised a better name for a gravitationally completely collapsed object.

He called it a black hole.

Suddenly, the whole world was interested. People were intrigued by the concept of a hole in space, which itself already seemed like an enormous hole. The idea of something black in space, which already is black—well, this whole concept intrigued millions of people.

Now people were talking. Sci-fi movies featured half-mad cowboy astronauts rushing suicidally into black holes.

The words “black hole” changed how people thought. Most important, the words helped people get the idea of a gravitationally completely collapsed object.

Your words matter. One word or metaphore can quickly define your concept and your uniqueness, and make your concept compelling.”

—Selling the Invisible, p. 193

“The first good lesson of marketing, then, may be this. Look. Just look around. And look carefully. See what is there—rather than what you expected to find.”

—The Invisible Touch, p. xiii

“You need to take not just a wise look at your business, but a naive one. You want someone who will clearly see the folly that you and others too close too the business are missing. You need someone who sees what they truly see, instead of what they think you want them to see. You need to stop, pull back, look, and have an outsider help you look.

Find a boy to tell you what your emperor is wearing.”

—The Invisible Touch, p. 22

I’m insatiably curious. When I discover a writer who reinforces what I think, it’s great. When I find one who challenges me and even makes me think something I’ve never thought before, that’s the Holy Grail of reading.