3 Signs You Are Practicing Ego Marketing and How to Stop It Is it about you or them?
By Tucker Ferwerda Edited by Heather Wilkerson
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
According to Statista, at least 30.2 million companies in the United States are estimated to spend a total of $117.53 billion dollars in digital advertising in 2020. Yet 63 percent of small business owners have reported that they struggle getting traffic and generating leads. Business owners who struggle with this should consider whether they are unknowingly practicing "ego marketing."
There are two types of businesses -- those that practice ego marketing and those that don't. Ego marketing is a term I created over time after working with clients to help them produce hundreds of thousands of dollars of marketing. The clients who produce the greatest impact for others also create the greatest impact for themselves financially. These types of clients do a great job of avoiding ego marketing. Their sole focus is to serve their customers and clients. The other type struggle and fail miserably in their marketing efforts because they practice ego marketing. Basically, they are all about themselves.
Related: What This Leader of a Multimillion-Dollar Company Does Each Day to Keep Her Focus
If you're struggling with sales, launching new products and services, or if you're having a hard time growing your business and increasing its revenue, take a look at the three signs of ego marketing listed below. You might be suffering from ego marketing and not even know it.
1. You're marketing 95 percent about you and 5 percent about them.
Reverse it. Companies advertise how long they've been in business, how many locations they have and rave about the features of their services. While these statistics have their place, there are better ways to advertise. At the end of the day, your clients and customers want their problems solved. Everything you do in business should be completely focused on serving those with whom you do business at the highest possible capacity.
Everything -- from your website, your offers and your marketing -- should be focused on creating a life-changing experience that will bring someone from a negative, troubled or confused state to a happier and satisfied state. Start by learning more about your customers. Learn their biggest struggles. Ask them questions, and adapt your business model to the needs of the market while keeping your boundaries as a business. Avoid using technical terms, and talk to them in a language they use and understand. Create slogans on your website that tell people exactly what you will do for them.
2. You're demanding the world while giving nothing in return.
In order to make sales, the perceived value of the product or service you're offering must be greater than the price itself. It must solve a specific issue for a specific person. This will help your customers internalize and convince themselves that what they are buying will solve their issues, challenges, desires and struggles. Don't stop there, however. Give them more. Create unexpected bonuses that they will get just for being your customers. Create a loyal fanbase of raving customers who will repeatedly come back because they believe in your mission, messaging and brand. You can do this without discounting your prices.
You can create a new opportunity and become the best and most expensive if you follow these principles. Look at some of the most expensive car dealers in the world. Lamborghini sells cars at high prices because they've created a new opportunity and have positioned themselves correctly with their marketing efforts. They've put a lot of time, energy and luxury into the making of one single car. If you don't follow these strategies, let's face it -- your competitors who are reading this will. Business is business.
3. You're selling stuff that people don't want.
With help from the internet, consumers are becoming smarter every day. Not only do they search for your brand online, but they also search for your competitors. They want the best product or service that improves their status, relationships, health or personal development for the best price. Businesses and companies make the mistake and try to sell things to their audience without doing proper market research to find out if their audience wants what they're trying to sell. People know when they're being sold to.
Make it easier on yourself by making it easier for your customers to say yes to you. Send out surveys, and ask the right questions to your audience for honest feedback. Sometimes from experience, business owners think they're too good to get feedback. If this is the case, look at companies like Intel, Oracle and Disney. These are billion-dollar companies who use market research companies like SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics to get honest feedback from their audience. You don't need to be a billion-dollar business to implement these strategies.
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Start by doing some market research. Find out what your customers want, and simply give them what they need. Then adapt to the market. Doing so will force you to see more results in your business. Please, don't be selfish in your marketing efforts. Don't practice ego marketing.
As seen in the link above, the growth of digital advertising is growing. Companies today will experience more results in their marketing efforts when they learn how to market their company with a story that has the best offers at the best prices. Ask yourself this question -- how am I becoming the Lamborghini of my industry?
