I was once trying to market my own products using traditional marketing methods. I found a product that was already selling to a market, got my own version, and put up ads. I was making some sales. But less than I needed to go full-time. In order to keep selling, I had to keep paying for more and more advertising. Unfortunately, I was not the only one doing so…
Because I had not come up with anything to make my product line compelling or unique, I had to compete with dozens of others, who also paid to advertise to my market. What do you think happens when more people are willing to pay to advertise to the same market segment? Of course, ad costs started going through the roof.
Even worse, as more competition came to my market, the pressure to lower prices hit as well. What was once a fun business to be in, turned into a cut throat game of chicken. Whoever could pay the most for customers was the winner. That may be the way others see business, but I wanted something more. Something that I could be proud of doing.
Previous to starting a business, I was a Pastor for a decade. I loved to help people make sense out of often complex topics. Be it the Bible, family situations, or current world events, every week I had hundreds of people looking to me to help navigate the complexities of life.
And every week, I did so through a new story.
So, when I needed to transform how I was reaching out to my market, I went back to what I knew best, stories.
I was then able to separate myself, not on price, not on packaging, nor on brand recognition. I was able to help people see how they would feel by using my product. My brand’s story, the one that they identified with, won them over to my brand. This resulted in me creating a million dollar product line in less than a year.
Not bad for a former preacher, turned entrepreneur.
