đź’ˇ When all and everything fails…
Imagine this.
Your business has been facing a bit of issues lately and you’re seemingly out of ideas of how to get out of this messy spiral.
Sales have not been going the way you envisioned it.
You might have a great product and do marketing by the books. You branded up quite nicely and are proud of it. The CX is up there.
But numbers don’t show up.
Your newest competitor came up with an unbeatable selling proposition. The others? They either somehow used some AI-inspired faux-marketing that is sweeping YOUR customers off YOUR doormat, or took advantage of your untapped market potential to give customers a fresh alternative.
Plus, their ads look amazing. “If only I had come up with this idea,” you say.
Your recent tactical pivot got blasted by not one, but three verified-purchase one-star reviews from three loyal customers. Yikes!
There’s less and less room for errors, as your staff start losing faith, and the spiral keeps going.
You explain to the stakeholders (aka your mum&spouse) and shareholders (aka bosses) that you’ve got in mind this next big thing to get the business back onto its feet, but it’s a costly move.
What you might have been missing is a low-cost, big-impact pivot point. That is:
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đź’ The value of meaning
How well does your product or service fare in terms of meaning?
People can satisfy a particular need from possibly hundreds of potential providers. Businesses compete over product features/benefits, invest millions in branding and getting a three-word fancy slogan, or try to improve their CX/feelings.
Yet, meaning is oftentimes overlooked or simply ignored, despite the fact that, taken at face value, meaning is the uppermost value for more and more people.
There’s a natural tendency in each and everyone of us to aspire to leave a meaningful legacy, do meaningful work, or living a meaningful life.
And you’re still trying to impress clients with that bulk purchase discount.
The talk of the world revolves around rising costs, rising profits, rising greedy and ruthless big business.
While you’re still bothering your audience with that follow-up-after-follow-up email to find out their demographic segment.
Your competitors incorporate nominal purposes in their value proposition and still get away with it.
But you’re still spending thousands on agencies to create a fancy picture of your product on a colorful background, while the ROAS has been steadily dropping on a month-to-month basis for the past two years.
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🤓 It is there, even if you just don’t see it
People don’t mind giving money to your business. But they do mind when it comes to choosing you over the plethora of your competitors.
When ultimately the differences between similar businesses are highly reduced, what’s gonna cut it? If you find it hard to differentiate with your brand, your product, or your customer experience, try being different with the meaning of your business.
“But, you know, I’m producing __________ (fill the blanks with your product), how the heck am I supposed to find meaning in it?”
Well, that hasn’t stopped Lurpak. It sells more than butter. It sells something that is somehow involved, through the hands of an empowered customer, in, to quote: healing the sick, feeding the masses, stopping feuds.
You don’t use it to bake something to eat, you use it to “forge strength in an oven.”
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So, to rephrase it, a spreadable fat can serve the same purposes as a healing center, a peace treaty, and a soup kitchen.
If you think they are selling butter, think again.
So, what’s the meaning behind your business?
