One of my readers sent me a great article from Target Marketing talking about how we stumbled and failed to market ourselves the right way for the 2016 Olympics. I suggest you check it here.
The bottom line: the US made the pitch in the context of ‘I’ rather than ‘YOU’. We spent our time talking about ourselves rather than discussing the value we bring to the ‘YOU’ - the world community. The world - and the customer - doesn’t care one bit about my struggles growing up in Chicago unless I can draw a straight line between that and the benefits I bring to the table. It might be a great story, but how does it help again?
If you’ve got a big pitch coming up, remember that all the customer wants to know is how you can help. It’s not about you or your agency, but about how you’ve already solved your customer’s problems. And will do so easily again. And again. And again. You might be providing a marketing plan, a new identity, or a website, it makes no difference. Your history is only relevant if it points squarely to a customer solution.
So think about how you speak to people. Replace ‘I’ with ‘We’. Then replace ‘We’ with ‘You’. And embrace that You as fanatically as Brazil’s President Luiz da Silva did in the winning bid. He understood the magic of a great sales and marketing pitch. We, on the other hand, forgot this - perhaps a residue left over from the previous 8 years, perhaps an indication of even more to come.
I’m prepping my Windy City 2028 pitch. Start with the Deep Dish…
What did I miss?
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