Weekly Challenge 002: Know Thy Enemy

If there's any marketing lesson that can be taken away from the past four years, it's that people love something to fight against. Exhausting? Yes! Primitive? Absolutely. Reality? 100%.  And, if you're finding you want to argue with me about it, you've just proven my point. 

We come alive in the face of opposition. That's just the way it is and if your business isn't out there picking fights, well... you just may be missing out.


Is this a private fight or can anyone join?

Not only can anyone join but everyone should, your business included. By knowing and stating what you stand for as well as what you oppose, you help your potential audience identify whether or not you're what they're looking for.  And, the clearer you are, the more people you'll attract.


Imagine Harry Potter without Voldemort...

Seriously, how lame would the story have been? Even with all the magic and wonder, you'd likely lose interest after the first few chapters if Harry didn't have Voldemort to deal with. Or the Dursley's. Or Malfoy. Or Snape. Or.... you get my point. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't waste your time reading this - go get a copy of Harry Potter and The Sorceres's Stone immediately. You'll thank me later. 

The fact is, every good story ever told, has a clearly defined protagonist, be it human, monster, circumstance, or even philosophy. Stories without something to overcome, aren't stories at all. They're simply a collection of thoughts and information. Data. Boring! But when there's something to rail against, people pay attention. It's just how we're wired. If your business isn't clearly standing in opposition to something, your story isn'y complete and you're likely losing potential customers.


Do your business a favor- Figure out who the enemy is and go kick its ass!


Kate Pearce Educational Services helps kids with learning disabilities. It would be easy for Kate to make the monster in her story the disability, but she doesn't. Why? Because when she and I worked on the copy of her website, she spoke passionately about how the kids she helps aren't "disabled." "They just learn differently," she explained. And there it was...the enemy at the gate:

Learning Shouldn't Require Tears
Children are designed for learning. It's what they do!  ​​​
But when they're not taught in the way they learn...

The enemy that Kate fights on behalf of children everywhere is inappropriate instruction, a system that doesn't give good teachers what they need to meet the needs of every students, out-dated and frankly wrong information about how children learn. And by god, Kate and her team of educators are on a crusade to change all of that.

Now, tell me what parent with a struggling child wouldn't get behind that fight?

And for what it's worth, Kate can hardly keep up with the demand for her serves.

Ready to take a stand like Kate did?


THIS WEEKS CHALLENGE:

•  Go looking for fights - Go to the website of the last company you purchased something from. Read through the site and see if you can identify the thing(s) they oppose. Notice how quickly they got this part of their story across. Was it right in the header or did you have to scroll down to find it? Was it explicit or did you have to read between the lines to figure it out? Try to summarize their fight in just a few words?

 

• Look for different kinds of fights (variety is the spice of life after all) - Listed below are several categories of things a business might stand against. Find one company or organization for each category.
  • a person 
  • a philosophy or way of thinking
  • a medical condition
  • a state of being (this might include how people feel)
  • an external circumstance 
  • a system / culture
    
    
• Join the Fight Club - Go though your website, copy, talks, etc and look for places where you can more clearly name the thing your business opposes. What are the wrongs that your services right? 

LET ME KNOW:

I'd love to hear what you discover. What worked. What didn't. How did you apply this in your personal and family life? In your business or work life? What new insights did you gain? What questions came up?

By sharing your experience I'll be able to report back the findings to the larger Sagefire community and  we can all grow and learn from one another. Because none of us should have to do this on our own. See what I did there? I made building your business all by yourself the enemy, not to mention, a call back to last weeks topic, giving a reason why, which you can read HERE if you missed it.  

Please comment below.