Thread by @RamliJohn

Marketing is building relationships at scale.

It's why the bestselling relationship-building book "How to Win Friends & Influnce People" is one of the best marketing books.

Here are 5 lessons from that book that'll improve your marketing: 🧵

1/ Get close to your customer.

Marketing is about understanding people and knowing why they do what they do.

It’s that simple. And that hard.

One of the best ways to get to know your customers is by interviewing them.

As an introvert, the thought of that made my hands sweat, knees weak, arms heavy

So I avoided it for far too long.

It’s only been in the past couple of years that I’ve invested time and energy into customer research.

It’s made a big impact on the campaigns I’ve run

If you're looking to level up your customer research skills, the best resource I’ve found is @KateBour’s Clarity Call Cheatsheet.

It ain't free, but the ROI on these cheatsheets is through the roof.

customercamp.co/claritycalls/

2/ Empathy is good marketing.

I love how Dale Carnegie put it here.

If there is any one secret to great marketing, it's empathy.

Empathy in marketing means imagining the experience from your customer's perspective.

It allows you to see where the gaps and opportunities are in your customer journey.

It also enables you innovate faster than your competitor.

Case in point, one of the marketing philosophies that drove @Apple to become a billion dollar company is empathy.

In 1977, Mike Markkula (employee no. 3 at Apple) penned "The Apple Marketing Philosophy."

Source: entrepreneur.com/article/220603

Markkula wrote that "Apple should strive for an 'intimate' connection with customers' feelings. We will truly understand their needs better than any other company."

This gave them an edge over other PCs as they released Apple II.

3/ Speak in terms of what people want.

The best marketing copy talk about what's in it for prospects versus how great your product is.

Ever met someone who only talked about themselves?

Annoying, right?

Now you know how customers feel when your marketing is all about your company.

That's why it's important to focus your marketing campaigns on outcome-based benefits versus features.

I love this example from @WordStream on the benefits vs feature of umbrellas

source: wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/0…

4/ Appeal to people's emotions over logic.

Dale Carnegie points out that we're dealing with "creature bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity."

People buy with their emotion, whether it's to feel joy or avoid feeling pain.

Great brands know this and associate their brand with an emotion:

Coke → happiness
Red Bull → boldness
Nike → winning

Even top B2B brands appeal to emotions to get people to act.

Take a look at this ad from @canva, an online graphics creation tool.

With Canva, you can "fall in love with designing" without any design experience. You'll feel like a design pro.

Even with a multi-committee decision-making process in an enterprise sales motion, emotions still come into play.

As Maya Angelous said, "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel."

5/ This is by far my favorite quote from the book.

Don't preach at your children to stop smoking.

Show to them how cigarettes will keee them from achieving something they want—making the basketball team or winning a 100-yard dash.

So good!

This concept is at the core of the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework.

JTBD is the process consumers go through whenever they aim to transform their existing life situation.

To enable a life transformation, customers “hire” products to solve a problem or to satisfy a need. This is known as a Customer Job.

For example, I could "hire" a fryer to cook chicken so I can eat it (without getting sick), satisfy my hunger, & get energy for the day.

How do you apply JTBD to marketing?

Let me give an example.

After several comments from my wife that I looked like a high school student with my laptop bag, it was time for an upgrade.

So, I bought a professional bag to bring to conferences and client meetings (pre-pandemic).

While out shopping for it, a lot of information was thrown at me, ranging from the durability of the materials to the ergonomic qualities and features of the bag itself.

But what actually sold me was the marketing message. This bag was made for “my grown-up work self.”

That's the Customer Job I "hired" a bag.

It's so I can look more professional and more "grown up."

The lesson: Explain in your marketing how your product can help people achieve their desired outcome.

TL;DR

5 marketing lessons from 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦:
1) Get close to your customers
2) Empathy always wins
3) Speak in terms of what they want
4) Appeal to people's logic
5) Show how their lives will improve

That's all folks

What other classic marketing books would you suggest?

Let me know below.

Or send me a message. My DMs are open! 🤗

Also, if you found this thread insightful, kindly like and retweet the first tweet.

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Thanks for reading!

https://twitter.com/RamliJohn/status/1394691789911638024