Scaling isn't just for big brands

Not everything is what it seems in marketing. Everything is very carefully considered (ok maybe not everything, looking at you Jaguar) to make a lasting positive impact at scale.

We have all been exposed to ads selling the tastiest looking food, the most gorgeous looking people on tv and social media, and being shown incredible lifestyles flashed before us online.

It is quite common to use editors for photos and videos, so much so that we expect it now as anything less looks bland and boring. Now when we look at these things, we believe somewhere in our mind that it is normal and this is the standard.

This is marketing and how it can convince us to believe something so our brains then adapt to accept this as “normal”, the result is that when we see anything actually normal we pull back and question it.

We all know that most of it is nonsense yet we continue to want it.

If it is easy to access such as a burger we go for it, if it is harder to obtain such as buying that sexy new Mercedes we just saw, then we dream about having it and make plans in our mind to get it.

That is the power of branding and understanding how to trigger a behaviour without ever speaking to someone directly.

The single most important job in marketing is to get in someones head in the way we need to. That's it!

That food ad just made you order a take away, that outfit you just saw a celeb wearing looked so good it has now made you hunt for it online, the car ad just made you wonder if you need an upgrade so you arrange a test drive.

The power of a brand goes beyond just showing people what you have, it is selling your message at scale and provoking an actionable behaviour.

Hitting one person at a time is bad for business and will take forever to gain any traction.

There is more psychology, specifically human behaviour analysis involved in marketing than a rigid step by step guide, hence why this is more difficult for some people who do not understand how people behave.

When you are trying to build your own brand or company brand you are required to wear the marketing and sales hats yourself and nail it, and if you can’t then what you are doing is a hobby, not a profitable venture.

The vast majority of people do their best and do what they "think" is right, thus leaving success down to chance. This is a sure way to fail and fail hard.

The most successful people in the world do not rely on the luck of an algorithm or even how many people like their post or ad, they rely on their ability to provoke the action they desire because they have the right strategy and understand how to execute it.

It is irrelevant if you get 1000 “likes” on your posts if nobody clicks through to buy your services or products (caveat that unless your purpose is to be a content creator). The goal is to hit your target audience and for them to follow the path you have laid out for them, taking the action that you need them to.

Anything less than this is a fail in marketing.

Branding is about achieving a desired result which isn’t always one that is on public display.

It could be that people have skipped the “like” button and headed straight to purchase, invest or offer an opportunity. Thus generating the result you wanted.

Take for example Lamborghini, they aren’t advertising on tv or on social media throwing their name around, yet their brand is known around the world and we are all familiar with them.

They turn up to their audience in the way they need to, and they achieve the results they require at scale.

They aren’t sitting there panicking over a post going viral or how many people saw their ad on Google.

There are many brands that nobody have heard of and succeeding, just because they know how to convert. So the next time you worry about your post not going viral, don’t panic because the only thing you need to focus on is are you hitting the right audience and did they convert.

That could be online, in person events or anything else. You need to show up wherever your audience are and you need to make sure that your brand is growing and turning a profit.

So what can you learn from this.

Your brand is your ally, and the way it comes across both visually and in tone can be the difference between success and an expensive flop.

Understand the importance of putting your best foot forward, focus on the details of your brand and who you are talking to, but don't let this stop you from getting out there and starting in the first place, as starting will already put you ahead of everyone else who is too focused on perfection.

Honing your craft takes time, don't give up if it isn't working straight away.

Understand that even if you are just looking for a job or if you want your business to scale, the formula is the same.

Show up where your audience is and give them what they are asking for, which is a solution to their problem.

How do you know their problem? Understand your audience so well that you know them better than you know yourself, and let them know you understand them too.

Then consistently be there feeding them the solution to their problem that only you can solve.

When they feel this, they start converting.

This is how we scale our message to convert into the results we want!

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