UnMarketing. Stratten Alison

and you don't have to sing “We Are the World” and hold hands. Being authentic means that you focus on what you bring to the table. That is what separates you from others in your industry. If you are your authentic self, then you have no competition. We know you have been told to act like other people, talk like other people, and market like all the people, but it is time for you to unlearn everything and start to UnMarket yourself.

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      EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING IS DIFFERENT

      Dear UnMarketers,

      We bet you never even thought we could write one book, did you? And yet, here we sit four books later5 writing the second edition of UnMarketing. Back in 2009, when we put together the first version we never imagined where it would take us. Stages and college classrooms around the world, opportunities to travel and meet countless entrepreneurs and business people, both virtually and in person, who we've come to call friends and colleagues.

      Everything has changed. In 2009, we could complete a social media conversation by looking at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We called into tele-seminars, checked in on Foursquare, and seemed obsessed with everyone and every business being on social media. QR codes were found on stock boxes and inside toilet tanks, not websites, and we could write 40,000 words without the word app being one of them. Oreo had never dunked in the dark during the Super Bowl and no one had ever dumped an ice bucket on their head. At least not for charity, anyway. Our moms weren't on Facebook and our kids weren't on Snapchat.

      Nothing is different. Today, great content has value and stealing someone else's is not only illegal, it's unethical. We share the things that move us. We trust honest reviews from people we know more than any ad. Our favorite videos are still those we can't help but share, like a woman who loves Star Wars like us and has a laugh that can't be missed. We still watch TV shows, read books, and listen to songs – no matter where we bought them – and we still struggle to understand the generations before us and after us, no matter what we call them. We love whatever is new, in social media and at the Apple Store.

      Everything has changed and nothing is different.

      There is never going to be a lack of tools and choices for your business online or off; that's why in the following chapters we've kept most of the original content of UnMarketing intact, while adding new content and commentary to reflect the rapidly changing landscape. You'll find these additions in text boxes throughout and notes to let you know when chapters are new or have been mostly rewritten. The principles have never changed. Create great products and services because without that, no amount of marketing will ever be able to help.

      Scott and Alison

      P.S. from Scott:

      You may have noticed Alison Stratten is the coauthor of this edition of UnMarketing. In reality, without her the original version would never have been completed. With two weeks to go before submission, I had less than 40,000 words of the required 60,000 – and a poor 40,000 at that. Alison took the garbled mess and made it into the best-selling book that's been read by tens of thousands and used in over 50 curriculums in universities and colleges around the world. She is the co-creator of Awesome at UnMarketing Inc., the cohost of our UnPodcast, my cohost in life, and now officially the coauthor of UnMarketing.

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      THE HIERARCHY OF BUYING

We surveyed more than a thousand business owners to ask, “Why do you buy?” See Figure 2.1 for the results.

Figure 2.1 Hierarchy of Buying: Service-Based Business

      When the need arises, customers buy first from people they know, trust, and like. The higher on the pyramid you are with your market, the less competition you have. We take it from the top down:

      ■ Current satisfied customer. Obviously, people are going to buy from you if they already do and are satisfied. The key term here is satisfied. Even though customers are current, this doesn't mean they are happy.

      ■ Referral by a trusted source. The first thing we do when we need something we don't already have is to ask people we know and trust if they know of a provider, which is easy with sites like Facebook and Twitter. We can get a pile of recommendations in minutes. Are you on the tip of the tongue when someone asks for recommendations within your industry?

      ■ Current relationship but have yet to purchase. Potential customers know you, trust you, but have yet to buy from you. And that's okay. The key here is that when they have the need for your product or service, you are in the front of their minds.

      ■ Recognized expert in the field. You've built a platform and are consistently in front of potential customers with helpful advice and tips that relate to your industry. You want your market to say, “This guy/girl knows what he/she is talking about! I need to learn more about this person.” If done right, this leads them into “current relationship” status.

      ■ Search through ads, random searches, and so forth. We get close to the bottom of the barrel here. Potential customers don't know anyone who provides the service, and have never met anyone, so they randomly search for a business that can help. You're not only at the mercy of a search engine here, but price now becomes a huge decider to the point that you almost become a commodity seller. You don't want to be here.

      ■ Cold-call. Most of your market isn't sitting around saying, “You know, I need an accountant to help my growing business, so I'm just going to sit here until someone randomly phones me to offer me that service.” Cold-calling is time-intensive with horrible results. Companies encourage it because it has a “low cost” up front, but what's the cost of annoying 99 people in a row to potentially talk to someone who may hire you based on no trust and price alone? We're starting a movement to change the phrase from “cold-calling” to “telespam.” That will put a stop to the courses; no one is going to sell an e-book about “The Top 10 Ways to Better Telespam!”6

      So the question is simple: Where on the pyramid are you focusing your marketing efforts? The lowest point with high competition and low margins? Or the middle, while aiming to get to the top?

      The main reason people don't focus on the middle is because it takes time. There, we admitted it. Building trust takes time. Fostering relationships takes time. So if you're looking to make the quick buck, go ahead, slide into the greasy bottom level, and enjoy. Just take a shower afterward.

      Targeted searches or even targeted ads today are now worlds away from traditional ads. Unlike in the pyramid in Figure 2.1, where they are pictured beside one another, today these two channels are entirely unique from one another.

      The ability to very specifically target your

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Sure, one is a picture book. But still.