The One Thing Everyone Gets Wrong about Digital Marketing

How To Write Advertisements That SELL – (7) Top Tips To Rake in the $$$

It is almost Tragic..
 
I’ll be Honest.
 
There’s only a few Zimbabwean companies trying to run online Ads.
 
Sadly, most do it TERRIBLY.
 
It’s not like they have they money to waste either. Shame.
 
Those companies might as well be burning cash for all the good it does them. 
 
Don’t worry.
 
This weekly blog is your road map to building a multi-million dollar African Company.
 
I’m going to show you how to make lots of money.
 
 A big, bold promise, I know.
 
Online advertising takes dedication. Reading this information to completion and absorbing these ideas takes effort. The input is worth the time, I promise
 
Every sales-boosting idea you’re about to read has been tested and proven to work in almost every industry.
 
I present SEVEN top tips to turbo-charge your advertising campaigns. These are high level digital marketing concepts.
 
Listen, learn and you will see an Instant Difference as your bank balance swells.

Tip 1: Professionals plan out campaigns.

Digital Zimbabwe Planning
Planning should take up a great deal of the time you dedicate to a campaign.
 
Simply boosting a post or running an advert without a specific sales funnel and a measurable goal to accompany the promotion is a total waste of money. 
 
The 40/40/20 Rule
 
Let’s look at your marketing campaign as a big pie chart. 40% of that pie is your audience. Another 40% of the pie is your offer. The last 20% is your copywriting and creative content.
 
So by putting the right offer in-front of the right audience, you are 80% there.
 
Think about that – no matter how flashy your writing and images are, if the offer is not right for your audience then you are dead in the water before you even start.
 
Think long and hard about who you serve and what you can offer them. 40/40/20 Pie Chart Digital Zimbabwe

A marketing plan means setting a goal for your campaign and a budget that you can measure. 

Are you aiming for sales, signups, engagement or growth?
 
Think deeply about your dream customer and answer these questions before posting a thing:
  1. Who are they? 
  2. Why do you want to help them? 
  3. How can you help them?
  4. What are their pain points & objections to your product or service?
This is what advertising legend David Ogilvy had to say on planning out your campaigns:
 
You don’t stand a tinker’s chance of producing successful advertising unless you start by doing your homework. I have always found this extremely tedious, but there is no substitute for it. First, study the product you are going to advertise. The more you know about it, the more likely you are to come up with a big idea for selling it.”
 
“Now comes research among consumers. Find out how they think about your product, what language they use when they discuss the subject, what attributes are important to them, and what promise would be most likely to make them buy your brand.”
 
DAVID OGILVY, OGILVY ON ADVERTISING.
 
Mr Ogilvy was responsible for several of the most successful & profitable advertisement ever written. He became so rich that he lived in a French Castle. Take his advice.
 

Tip 2: Consider which Customer you are Targeting.

Digital Zimbabwe Customer Targeting
You must quickly grasp the key concept of “customer awareness.” 
 
The idea was pioneered by Gene Schwartz, a titan in the advertising world. His book “Breakthrough Advertising” costs more than $500 on Amazon right now. It’s worth every penny! 
 
Gene Schwartz’s Customer Awareness scale looks like this.
 
Unaware – Problem Aware – Solution Aware – Product Aware – Most Aware
 
5 stages of customer awareness
 
This is where all you preparation starts to pay off!
 
You must learn to create a sequence of content that takes your prospects from Unaware to Most Aware.
 
How you communicate to someone who has never heard of you should be very different from what you say to a customer who is salivating to buy your stuff.
 
Think about it…
 
Every single person out there on the internet is at a different level of “customer awareness”. Some of your prospects are previous customers, some are new to you and sceptical about your brand, some have been considering you for a while, some prefer your competitors… You get the idea.
 
How you talk to each of your target prospects should be very different.
 
The basic rule of thumb is this: The further along the customer awareness scale the prospect is, the more direct & straightforward your offer should be. For the Unaware or Problem Aware prospects, feel free to have fun with indirect copywriting leads and storytelling. (I’ll have more about these methods in a future blog)
 
PRO TIP: Knowing “what your prospect knows about you” before you begin a campaign puts you a million miles ahead of your uninspired competition.

3: Measure Everything - Test Everything

Digital Zimbabwe Measure and test

“What can’t be measured can’t be managed”

Let’s talk briefly about analytics.
 
Scary word maybe, but it basically just means measurement in the digital marketing world.
 
How do you measure how effective your ad is?
 
How do you figure out what’s working? Is the headline or the image the problem? Your best performing advert is your “control”. You should always be testing ways to try and “beat the control”. Test your headline, your lead, your copywriting, your call to action and your images
 
All of this can be answered by Analytics.
 
First, you will have set up the Google Tag Manager and the Facebook tracking pixel on your website so you can actually measure your conversions. 
 
This all sounds super technical right?
 
Don’t panic yet, it is not as difficult as it sounds. You can easily do it yourself by following an online tutorial or two. Or you could always pay somebody like Digital Zimbabwe to do it for you😊
 
Once setup, there’s all sorts of fun stuff you can test & measure using Google Analytics and Facebook Ads Manager. 
 
To name a few – 
 
  1. Which headlines work best in adverts?
  2. Which images convert the best?
  3. Do prospects prefer long copy or short copy?*
  4. IG vs FB vs Google Ads
  5. Conversion rate (how many customers reach a set goal on your website)
 
*Copy describes all the words underneath the headline of an advert.
 
I will dig deeper into analytics in a later blog (and show you how to run the most effective Facebook campaigns) but for now I want you to understand the basics of planning an online ad campaign.
 
By the way, If you haven’t read my post on “Positioning” go back and do that here before reading any further.
 
Seriously!
 
It’s a ten minute read that you need to understand before proceeding.
 
Read it because if your offer does not match with your audience everything else I say going forward is a waste of your valuable time.

Tip 4: All marketing is about Transformation.

Digital Zimbabwe Transformation
All marketing is about Transformation. Transforming your customer from their current unhappy state to a better, happier state using your product or service. Your product or service is the bridge between those two vastly different worlds.
 
This is known as the B.A.B sequence
 
The Before, After, Bridge 
 
Before: What their life is like now, with the pain 
After: What they want it to be like with the problem gone 
Bridge: How they can get there
 
When I sit down at my laptop to craft an advertisement, I know that if I really can convince you with my words that my product or service will move you from your present problematic state to a better, happier or healthier state and is worth the money, then you will pay me handsomely. I also understand that unless I can convince you to believe what I am saying is true, you’re going to be very sceptical of my declarations . You need proof of my claims. Client Testimonials are one effective way of providing proof of your claims.

Tip 5: Awareness Campaigns and Direct Response Campaigns.

Digital Zimbabwe Direct response Awareness campaigns
There’ are only two goals you need to have in mind when posting or crafting advertising campaigns online. You will hear about all sorts of other campaigns, but let’s keep it simple early on.
 
When you are running an “Awareness campaign” you are trying to get people who haven’t heard of you to take notice of your brand. Think of an awareness campaign like you would a dashing romantic interest. First, you need your future date to know you exist, to engage with you, only then can you make them laugh and show them how great you are. You only ask for a kiss when you see they are comfortable and relaxed with you. The same process applies when selling anything online.
 
Awareness campaigns take place at the top of the sales funnel. This is the beginning. You are taking a customer from Unaware to Product Aware on a customer awareness scale.
 
What about people who are already aware of your product?
 
Then its time to pull out the big guns…
 
I’m talking about a “Direct Response Campaign
 
So many brands post pictures on the gram and think they are social media mavens. Sorry to burst the bubble! Unless you know how to successfully close the deal and actually convert a prospect, you’re still an amateur. 
 
Direct Response advertising is exactly what it says on the tin. It is a communication designed to elicit an immediate response from the reader, to pull out their debit card and buy from you right then and there. An infomercial is an example of a direct response advertisement because you must buy right then and there…”while stocks last ” 
 
As copywriting legend John Caples wrote in Advertising for Immediate Sales: 
 
“There are a lot of good advertisements that are weak in the final urge to act. They are like salesmen who are charming talkers but weak closing men. If they had the right stuff they would pick the reader up by the collar of his coat and the seat of his trousers and stiff-arm him into a showroom. But, instead, these advertisements leave him sitting placidly in his chair, turning the pages of a magazine or newspaper.”
 
Many copywriting heroes such as Caples have found fame and fortune through direct response advertising. Learn to use master copywriting tactics like Scarcity, Guarantees, Testimonials & Risk Reversal in your writing to bag those riches. (Techniques I discuss in an upcoming blog)
 
PRO TIP: If your prospect is hot and ready to buy, it is a mistake not to brazenly and confidently ask for the sale. If your marketing funnel is set up correctly, there should always be customers ready to pull out their wallets with a little nudging.
 
P.S. I’m pretty good at turning boring words on a website into killer copy that effectively converts your prospects into high paying customers. 
 
Interested? 
 
Contact me here to get as many clients, customers & sales as you can possibly handle.

Tip 6: Build a Landing Page!

Digital Zimbabwe landing page
All Zimbabwean websites suck. Well… almost all of them.
 
Do you know why your website of pretty pictures and words will ALWAYS fail ??
 
Because a website’s purpose is not to entertain, but to persuade consumers to part with billions of dollars every day in exchange for products and services.
 
The single biggest mistake that I see Zimbabwean companies make is not building a landing page for a Direct Response Sale Campaign.
 
Picture the scene.. you are at home on the couch scrolling through Instagram, when BOOM, you see a luxury hotel near you is running an incredible sale. 
They have a great attention capturing headline.
  • The photos are captivating. 
  • The copywriting draws you in…
 
It’s been ages since you took a holiday! Your excitement builds… You eagerly click on the link to “learn more” about this “amazing sale” only to be redirected to the home page of the hotel website where there is no information about the sale. There is literally nothing about the Sale! You can’t continue. (I’ve seen this a-lot!) It’s like a road sign leading to a dead end. Frustrated and angry, you will leave that page faster than a cheetah chasing it’s next meal. 
 
Every step of the sales funnel should feel congruent, like walking down a set of stairs.
 
A landing page is an essential part of an online sales funnel. 
 
If you are running a growth campaign, by all means, send people to your Instagram profile and Home page. 
 
But all direct response sales campaigns should be run through a landing page built specifically for that campaign. Capisce ?
 
A good sales campaign should feel like slippery slide. The advert should whet your appetite, then seamlessly take you to a sales page that gives you more information and converts you into a paying customer.
 
PRO TIP: Your landing page should actually look like your advert creative as much as possible so the prospect knows they are in the right place. Same colours, same images. This congruency gives your prospect a feeling of comfort.
 

Marketing should be easy and it should work. 

I am an expert at crafting landing pages that convert prospects from strangers to raving fans. I do this by using a proven copywriting framework. I’ll guide your customer by the hand all the way to the sale.
 
Contact me here

"If the visitor can’t find something easily, it does not exist."

Tip 7: Absolutely Nobody cares about your "Brand" (maybe your mum).

Newsflash: Your brand is not the hero. Your customer is.
 
Guess What Guys.
 
Customers don’t care about your history or your company culture. They don’t care about your awards, or if you are green energy compliant. They certainly don’t want to hear about how you “aim to be the best” 🤮
 
Listen closely…They care what you can do for them. That’s It! Burn that into your brain.
 
Consumers all think the same thing before making any purchase decision. They all want to know what they’re going to get out of the deal. 
 
They all want to know, “What’s in it for me?”
 
Or as Clayton Makepeace put it his Total Package Blog.
 
“The only reason any rational human being ever purchases anything is to derive a benefit from it! That means … any scrap of sales copy that fails to clearly, dramatically, emphatically, credibly, and repeatedly present the benefits a product will deliver is destined to fail miserably.”
 
The best way to satisfy your prospect’s curiosity to this question is to learn to talk about benefits instead of features. 
 
For example, let’s imagine you own a big bedding shop:
 
A feature is  “a big, comfortable king size bed with Egyptian cotton sheets.”
 
A benefit is “ a peaceful night of rest that feels like you’re cocooned in the clouds. You’ll wake up in buttery-soft sheets, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.”
 
See the difference?
 
So stop talking about yourself and your company so much, NOBODY CARES. Start talking about what you can do for the customer to make their life better and watch the cash roll in.
 
Aim to write about benefits instead of features.
 
Here’s a great way to do this. Ask yourself “so what?” After every line you write.
 
  • You have a great plumbing service? So what? How does that help me ?
  • You’re a great chef? So what? How does that help me ?
 
Keep refining your message until its loaded to the brim with benefits for your customer.
 
Of course, you can talk about your brand, mission and purpose. Just do it through the lens of the customer and do it with connection and empathy in mind. 
 
PRO TIP: If you’re struggling to write a great headline throw your strongest benefit in there.
 
Does your company want to capture leads, grow your sales and drive more traffic ?
 
Digital Zimbabwe is the countries first full stack digital marketing agency. We are here to supercharge your company’s digital growth. Contact us here.
This is my second blog, thanks for reading. 
 
 
I have so much amazing Free value that I am excited to share with you over the next couple of weeks. I’m really kicking this blog off with tons of value for you.
 
Next week’s blog is all about how to not only survive but thrive in a post pandemic environment. 
 
It’s titled “5 Advertising Secrets To Help You Sell Like Crazy After Covid-19”
 
These will be actionable tactics that will immediately help you navigate the brave new world of digital marketing in 2022.
 
You’re going to get so much valuable information for free from this next one.
 
My name is Josh.
 
I am a full stack digital marketer. I specialise in branding, social media marketing, digital advertising campaigns and copywriting. I also build online sales funnels that convert prospects into paying clients. If you would be interested in working with me then please email me here
 
I’m here to help Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and companies grow their brands and make sales online.
I’m also giving away (5) twenty-minute one-on-one digital marketing consultations. This will be a live Skype/WhatsApp/Zoom call where I answer any questions you have about marketing your brand online in Zimbabwe. If this is something you need right now, Sign up here.
 
 
P.S: If you have friends who might benefit from this blog, I would love it if you shared this post with them. (the share buttons are below)
 
Facebook Twitter Instagram
 
Say Hi on Social Media, I would love to hear from you.
 
Notes
 
 
1*.Incase you were wondering that stands for Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, Pay Per-Click Advertising, Conversion Rate Optimisation and Social Media Marketing.)
 
2*. Al Reis & Jack Trout. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

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The One Thing Everyone Gets Wrong about Digital Marketing

The One Thing Everyone Gets Wrong About Digital Marketing

Think about it for a second.
 
Are you taking advantage of this new digital world we live in?
 
As you know the world is moving faster than ever.
 
Facebook ads. Google ads. Email Marketing. Funnel Building.
 
It can be confusing right! And to top it all off…It can be very expensive.
 
Quiet frankly you can waste a lot of money if you don’t know what your doing.
 
If you are overwhelmed by digital marketing, don’t worry. It is actually not that hard. I’m going to guide you step by step to digital marketing nirvana.
 
Welcome, my name is Josh. 
 
I am the founder of the Digital Zimbabwe marketing agency. I am here to show Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and companies how to grow their brand and make sales online. I understand exactly how difficult it is to get started here.
 
From now on consider this blog your roadmap to building a multi-million dollar Zimbabwean company. ( We’re talking $US not Bond here! )

Listen Up

In today’s day and age it is no longer the best or biggest brands that claim the all the riches. 
 
Rather it’s the companies that most clearly communicate their message to their audience that win the fame and fortune.
 
It sounds so simple yet it’s easy to be overwhelmed. I know I was when I started on this journey.
 
Digital marketing is vast. It seems like there is so much to learn. 
 
Let’s start with tongue twisting acronyms like SEO, SEM, PPC, CRO & SMM.*
 
Thats before you even mention content marketing, lead generation or email marketing. What a mouthful (!!!)
 
Don’t Worry. Relax.
 
You’re about to learn how to make truck loads of money from online marketing. 
 
Just don’t expect it to happen overnight and don’t expect it to happen without continuous learning and deep work.
 
Lets get this straight – I’m not some “marketing guru” trying to sell you an online course or some shiny new sales technique. This blog is humbly written with the purpose of helping entrepreneurs and businesses in Zimbabwe understand the new digital landscape.
 
Let’s get started.

A Digital Marketing Framework for Success

Every week I am going to be showing you in great detail how to build a digitally relevant brand in modern day Zimbabwe. It’s going to be so much fun! 
 
Why did I create the Digital Zimbabwe Marketing Agency?
 
Fair Question…
 
You see, the trends and advice that work for companies thriving in the first world do not always hold true in economies such as ours. I have tested so many “techniques” and software services that just are not suitable or applicable for Zimbabwean businesses. I know that most of you reading this will not be able to afford the services of a marketing agency.
 
I want to share everything I have learnt about growing a successful African brand in this blog for free. 
 
Let me start by stating the obvious: Growing a successful company in Zimbabwe comes with many challenges that other companies operating in the first world would not face. 
 
The national currency doesn’t magically perform metamorphosis overnight. Taking online payments isn’t literally impossible! Random business bank accounts don’t just pop up in your name only to disappear again three months later like you’ve been ghosted. Electricity isn’t a privilege. New mind-bending Statutory Instruments are not a weekly occurrence. I could go on but I won’t bore you with what you already know.
 
Despite these challenges, believe it or not there are huge advantages to growing your brand in Zimbabwe. Nearly every single industry in this country is ripe for disruption. Innovation is dead. There are so many boring brands in this country just waiting to be toppled. The big companies have gotten lazy. They have long forgotten what got them to the top. Opportunities are limitless for those who dare to dream, innovate and put in the work. 
 
And here’s why…

“You can do anything – but not everything.”

I want to discuss the single most important idea you must understand before you get started on your digital marketing journey. This is the foundation from which you’ll build your empire. 
 
I’m about to discuss a very powerful tool of persuasion that moves random strangers to line up around the block just to pay you thousands of dollars. Keep reading, I’ll show you exactly how successful brands like Nike and others do this.
 
Once you have this one idea in your amour, you’ll be ready to start learning all the fun marketing tactics like “killer” sales funnels, paid ads, social media marketing, direct response copywriting and much, much more.
 
Let’s talk about this very powerful idea first that nearly all Zimbabwean businesses seem to miss or get wrong. 

Positioning

Digital Zimbabwe (2)
Don’t worry, it’s not as dirty as it sounds, I promise.
 
So many companies get caught up in the idea of ‘branding’ and building a brand. They spend hours and hours on things like logos, colour schemes and brand guidelines.
 
That’s all well and good. 
 
But it doesn’t count for a thing if you haven’t already crafted a clear “Position” for your brand first.
 
Loosely defined, Positioning is “How you differentiate yourself from your competitors in the mind of your customer.”
 
And here is the most important rule to remember when positioning your brand…
 
“It is better to be first in the mind of the consumer than it is to be better”. 
 
Read that again. Slowly this time…
 
“It’s better to be first than it is to be better”
 
What exactly does that mean, Josh? I hear you ask.
 
Let me explain. Quickly, name the company that makes the best electric car in the world right now? 
 
If you are like most people you would have answered “Tesla.” 
 
Yet innovative companies such as Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen & Mercedes all produce cutting edge electric cars. The reason Tesla came to your mind first (and probably always will) is because they were first company to enter the “Electric Car” category. So they own it.
 
The first brand to successfully enter a category owns it – unless they make a series of huge mistakes that is.
 
This brings us to one of the most important laws of Al Reis & Jack Trout’s seminal book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.”

The Law of Category

Digital Zimbabwe (5)

Who was the first brand to enter the soft drinks category?

You guessed it – Coke.

The second? You guessed right again – Pepsi.

The first company in the Toothpaste category? Colgate. The first fast food joint ever was… McDonalds. You get the idea. The brand that makes into to the consumers mind first wins big.

Do you think Red Bull would have become the behemoth of a company that it is today if they sold Red Bull as a “soft drink” like Coke or Fanta? You can bet your house that company would have failed spectacularly.

Instead of fighting in the very crowded “soft drink” category that was already owned by Coke, Red Bull created a brand new category that they could be first to mind in, the “Energy Drink” category. They crafted a position in the consumers mind that differentiated them from all the sugary carbonated soda drinks.

So now when you think of a soft drink you think of Coke but when you think of an energy drink, you think Red Bull.

I’ll say it again. In business “It’s better to be first than it is to be better.”

Remember this Law. You can try fight it as much as you like but those are the rules.

So what do you do if your brand is not first in the mind of the consumer?

What if you’re 5th, 6th or 10 000th in your niche or category?

The answer is simple.  “If you can’t be first in a category, then set up a new category you can be first in.”*

You need to create a new position for your brand in your consumers mind. Don’t settle for being the third or fourth best in your category. 

You’re doomed to fail.

Listen, you’re not in school. Remember when it was so important to “fit in”? Not anymore my friend. No one ever built an empire without rebelling against the status quo. 

In the Information Age, It’s what sets you apart from everyone else that will have you swimming in $100 bills. You will strike gold when you successfully stake a claim of new land in the prospects mind.

Red Oceans Vs Blue Oceans

Ok, so how exactly do you position your Zimbabwean brand?

Let’s talk about a concept first introduced in the book Blue Ocean Strategy that was released in 2005.

Below is a rudimentary brand positioning map that I have created for the motor vehicle industry as an example. These are the positions I think these manufacturers occupy in the mind of the consumer. 

This Brand positioning map has a horizontal access ranging from luxurious to economical and a vertical access ranging from fast to slow.

Brand Positioning Map

Brand Positioning graph car manufacturers

Now lets say you want to bring a new car brand to the market. How would you position your vehicle?

Firstly, you must do three things.

  1. You must recognise your competitors position in the mind of the consumer.
  2. Then you must recognise your competitors position in the market.
  3. Then you don’t make the mistake of trying to go up against them. That is a recipe for flat out failure.

Look at that top left corner of the brand position map.

That is what we call a “Red Ocean”.

A “Red Ocean” is filled with cutthroat markets with bloody competition. Packed with other hungry sharks, the ocean is red from all the vicious competition and blood being spilt over resources.

Now let’s take the “Blue Ocean” perspective. Look at the red pins in the white space. They are in a “Blue Ocean”. A Blue Ocean is a wide open market space devoid of competition.

That is where the opportunities for positioning your brand are.

In a Blue Ocean you are the only shark around for miles, you have the whole place to yourself – competition is irrelevant.

Think of the “Red Ocean” that is the hotel industry. Dozens of huge players in the hospitality space like Holiday Inn, Four Seasons, Hilton, Marriot and a plethora of others got the wind completely knocked out of their sales by a small upstart called AirBnb.

AirBnb created a blue ocean of market generation by not following the normal set of assumptions the industry stood on.

The hotel industry had wrongly assumed that guests would not want to stay in a strangers house. They were concerned with better service and cheaper prices without actually focusing on true value generation for the guest. They were not able to escape the “red ocean mindset”. 

As a result of having a blue ocean perspective, the small upstart AirBnb was able to disrupt an entire industry. Last year alone the company posted a turnover of over 3.3 billion US dollars.

Instead of positioning your brand in bloody shark-infested “Red Oceans” of vicious competition, why not move to the “Blue Oceans” where there is little or no competition?

Having a blue ocean perspective allows you to generate the market creating innovations that will drive huge growth.

What can you do for the consumer that your rivals can’t?

iPads and Tablet devices did not exist until Steve Jobs, Jony Ive and the team at Apple willed them into existence in the early 2000’s.
 
That is why Apple should forever dominate the Tablet device category. Because they staked the claim for that “land” in your mind first.
 
iPads will always outsell whatever Samsung or whoever else comes out with in the Tablet category because of this rule.
 
As Jack Trout and Al Reis put it in their book Positioning: The Battle for the mind.
 
“You build brand loyalty the same way you build loyalty in a marriage. You get there first and then be careful not give them a reason to switch.”

"You build brand loyalty the same way you build loyalty in a marriage. You get there first and then be careful not give them a reason to switch.”

Stick out! Be bold. 
 
You cannot be all things to all people. More and more businesses are finding growth by drilling down into a niche to serve one very specific customer with one very specific problem. Boldly declare who you are for and who you are not for. Your real audience will gravitate to your message because it is authentic to them.
 
PRO TIP: Make an outrageous, big fat claim about how you help your customer solve their problem that no one else in your industry does. Then plaster that claim all over the place. On your website, on you adverts, in your tweets, everywhere.
 
Find a way to differentiate your brand from the rest of the pack. What do you do differently to solve your customers problem? How can you help them in ways your competitors cannot? 
 
Maybe your brand is rebellious and fights against the evil of your overpriced competitors. Perhaps you’re a well established brand that leans on that genuine credibility you’ve earned over the years. Is your product or service quicker and easier to use than your competitors? Then shout it from the roof tops.
 
Find your difference!
 
But remember prospects do not care about your company or how different you think you are. They don’t study your adverts. They don’t even think about you. They care about your brand ONLY if they perceive it can make their life better in some way. 

“Those Who Tell The Stories Rule The World.” — Plato

Why does every brand in Zimbabwe insist on being so boring. Where’s the Fun? 
 
Don’t bore your customers and don’t be afraid to be a little outrageous or creative.
 
Consumers love a product or brand that takes a strong position or stance. Be compelling. There is nothing more fatal to a companies message than consumer apathy.
 
Your brand must tell an emotional story in the mind of the prospect that takes them to a better place.
 
What do you think of when I say the word “Nike”?
 
Athletic Glory. Triumph. Heroic Effort. Jordan. Tiger. Kobe. Social Justice, even.
 
With all due respect to Nike founder and “Shoe Dog” Phil Knight.
 
Nike is actually, well…nothing much. Nothing of real tangible value anyway.
 
Nike barely even owns a pair of shoes. All Nike products are manufactured by third party contractors who have nothing to do with the company. Essentially Nike just contracts a bunch of factories in Asia that glue rubber together in a shape that comfortably fits your foot. Wait a minute though, if thats all Nike is, then why do people line up around the block for days to drop thousands on a new pair of Jordans? Why would so many people drop their hard earned cash just to wear the Nike brand? Because we want to belong to their tribe. Because we have joined in on their story and we want to be a part of it. Buying a pair of those shoes with that iconic Swoosh is like joining a club. Now you belong with Jordan, Kobe and Tiger. 
 
Think about it…
 
Through years of communicating their position effectively they have told a convincing story within our conscious. A story that we too can be a superstar, if we wear the right shoes that is.
 
What story do you want to tell the consumer? What’s your brands position? What and who does your business stand for?
 
 If you get stuck, I recommend that you actually talk in person with your ideal customers.
 
Find what it is that is holding them back. What are their problems? Not the superficial problems they tell you they have but the real gut-wrenching problems that keep them awake at night. Thats where the pot of gold is. In solving real problems for real people. There is a mountain of information you can learn from talking to both your customers and potential customers.
I have created a downloadable case study for you called “Think Small”. It will give you a deeper understanding of the concept of Positioning.  It’s a break down of one of the most famous advertising campaigns of all time that helped turn a “lemon” of a product into a cultural icon that shifted 23 million units. You’ll learn a lot. It’s Fun. It’s Free. 
 

Download The Case Study Using the Button Above or Download it here. 

 
This is my first blog so thanks for reading. 
 
My philosophy for this blog is based on our shared African ideals of Ubuntu. The idea that your success is my success and my success is yours. Things are tough enough as it is here in Zim. Let’s show each other some love. Here’s to you.
 
I have so much amazing Free value that I am excited to share with you over the next couple of weeks. I’m really kicking this blog off with tons of value for you.
 
Next week’s blog is all about making you rich. 
 
It’s titled “How To Write Advertisements That SELL – 7 Top Tips To Rake in BIG $”
 
These will be actionable tactics that will immediately bring improvements to your social media ad’s.
 
Keep your eyes peeled. It’s a cracker.
 
My name is Josh.
 
I am a full stack digital marketer. I specialise in branding, social media marketing, digital advertising campaigns and copywriting. I also build online sales funnels that convert prospects into paying clients. If you would be interested in working with me then please contact me here
 
You can also email us directly at hello@digitalzimbabwe.com
 
I’m here to help Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and companies grow their brands and make sales online.
I’m also giving away (5) twenty-minute one-on-one digital marketing consultations. This will be a live Skype/WhatsApp/Zoom call where I answer any questions you have about marketing your brand online in Zimbabwe. If this is something you need right now, Sign up here: 
P.S: If you have friends who might benefit from this blog, I would love it if you shared this post with them.
 
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Say Hi on Social Media, I wanna hear from you.
 
Zimbabwe Digital Marketing Agency
 
Notes
 
 
1*.Incase you were wondering that stands for Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, Pay Per-Click Advertising, Conversion Rate Optimisation and Social Media Marketing.)
 
2*. Al Reis & Jack Trout. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

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