…an example for Business from the Australian 2019 Federal Election!
If you’re not politically interested you may not have heard:
‘Almost six months after the Australian Labor Party’s election loss, the official autopsy into what went wrong for the party has been released’
It didn’t need an ‘autopsy’ for me to know, but now it is official and a huge lesson for YOU if you are in Business!
Labor did not just lose the election, simply speaking, they lost their ‘clients’, which are the voters, of course. Voters deserted them, they did not vote for the party, not the regular voters, nor any new ones.
This can easily happen to you, in Business. So let’s take a look at what I am talking about.
The Labor Party’s ‘autopsy’ discovered these three major points:
1.- An unpopular Leader
People ‘buy’ from people they know and like, that creates trust – people did not like the Labor Leader –
Do your customers like you?
Find out!
The Australian Labor Party made a huge mistake by assuming who their Leader is does not matter as much to the Voter, as their Policy.
They thought they had strong and practical policies and that would gain them the win.
Here is what this means for you in Business:
If you are a Professional, Coach or Consultant, YOU are the Business! Who you are and how you interact with your prospects and clients matters. All Business is about people liking and trusting the Business. It follows that if you are unpopular and people don’t like you, they will not come to you or buy from you.
If you are a Business and do not want to feature prominently in your Business as the leader, find a way to make your Business a ‘personality’.
What does that mean?
Simply, become a Brand. Every Brand has a ‘personality’. Find ways to promote your Business in a way prospects and clients ‘like’ and ‘trust’ your Business.
Use any of the well-known Brands as your example, study how they market themselves and work out how to convert and apply it to your Business.
For example, Nike uses the emotional branding technique of archetypes in its advertising – more specifically, the story of the Hero. We all want to be a Hero, right? Nike does it exceptionally well, targeting for sports oriented customer segments.
2.- Cluttered Policy
At the last Australian Federal Election, it wasn’t clear what the Labor Party stood for, some of it got very distorted.
While they offered great Policies, they did not explain them well and with that created huge confusion for the voter.
In your Business, is it clear for your clients what you offer? Do you have well described programs, products and packages? It needs to be easy to understand and ‘buy’.
In fact, you want to make sure your entire ‘customer journey’ is personalized across each and every single experience, both online and offline.
This is very simple when you use automation! Everything can be pre-set and pre-programmed. The key is ‘personalization’. Something many Professionals, Coaches and Consultants find very hard.
Professionals, Coaches and Consultants often use extremely ‘professional’ language in their client interactions and with that totally lose their clients!
The key here is, you want to ‘speak’ to your prospects and clients as if you’re sitting across the table from one, talking to just that one person!
This way of ‘speaking’ needs to be reflected in every piece of content you put out:
- On your Website
- In your Social Media posts
- Any Promotion and Advertising Material, print and digital
3.- NO Strategy
The Australian Labor Party admitted they did not really have a strategy at the last Federal Election, and certainly did not know what their voters wanted to hear!
Can you believe it? It’s the voters who put a Political Party into power, they are the most important component and what they like, dislike, understand, don’t understand and how they react to what’s currently happening in the country and the world, is what shapes their decision which Party they vote for!
Your strategy is the means that allows you to change with external influences.
Every good Marketing Consultant starts with a Strategy because the Strategy determines the Marketing Actions. No good taking actions without a Strategy at the base!
In your Business, strategy gives you exactly what you need to connect when and where, with your customers. Strategy allows you to change direction fast and adjust to the changing market, competition and your customer’s changing perceptions.
The Australian Labor Party saw an opposition Prime Minister as their competition, only that Prime Minister had already been disposed of!
Without a strategy, the Labor Party used Messages that did not apply and were no longer appropriate.
What is your Strategy? And be clear here, if you distinguish your Business Strategy from your Marketing Strategy, think again!
The two go hand in hand and both need to be considered when you are building your Brand and your Business.
They are Not mutually exclusive!
This article was written by Sigrid de Kaste,
3 times #1 Bestselling Author, Business and Marketing Consultant and Coach. Sigrid de Kaste founded Stickybeak Marketing after formally studying marketing and personally experiencing the power of marketing in starting up, expanding, and selling her own businesses
Knowing the different types of marketing that are required for each business stage, Sigrid has been invited to and delivered marketing presentations in her home country Australia, as well as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Switzerland