Does she take sugar?

I want me some allergies.  

The other evening I was watching American comedian Michael Jr. He was telling a story about his childhood friend who was so rich that he could pick and choose what he ate because he had “allergies”.

Michael Jr. wasn’t allowed “allergies” and his dad made him eat everything on his plate!  He was so jealous of his friend and he wanted some allergies of his own so he could pick and choose what he ate too.

We can see the humour in this story, and we see so many food alternatives these days on the market, and it somehow appears unfashionable these days to drink cows milk or take caffeine. I often joke with my daughter that when we are in a coffee shop, she doesn’t just order a coffee she orders a whole sentence.  If It’s my job to place the order I have to practice for a week!

There was a time when the options for coffee were “do you take sugar?”.  However that’s not to say that the old ways are always best, and as the saying goes: “times they are a-changing”.  There was a time when there was just one plumber, electrician, and builder in every village, however, these days the market is so much more crowded. 

What that means is that for anyone in business they need to have a very clear understanding of their target audience if they are going to have any chance of reaching that audience with their message. 

Learn how to make your visitors feel as strongly about your product, mission, or movement as you do.~ Adam Fairhead

When I started my first job I worked for an international tyre manufacturer as a control systems design engineer.  Before long I found myself climbing the promotional ladder and had landed myself in a job as a process specialist looking after all of the technical aspects of one of the four major tyre making processes throughout the UK fleet of factories.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed this job I found that it was taking me away from my passion which involved designing and building control systems. 

So, I decided to move on and went to a computer manufacturer, and I really didn’t settle there at all.  On my next career move a couple of years later I found a great match for my skills, interests and the demands of the job in a company that provided sub-contracted control systems, mainly in the Electricity Supply Industry, for coal and nuclear-fired power stations and nuclear reprocessing plants.  I had found my match and was happily working there for many years. 

Don’t pick a job with great vacation time.  Pick one that doesn’t need escaping from.~ Various

When I think back I am reminded of the musical “Fiddler on the roof” which I love mainly because I love this style of music and the fascinating story set in Russia about a century ago.  This was all about a poor family where the tradition was for a “matchmaker” to find a suitable husband for the daughters.  The daughters, however, wanted to marry for “love”.  One of the most popular tunes in the musical goes:

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,Make me a match,Find me a find,catch me a catchMatchmaker, MatchmakerLook through your book,And make me a perfect match~ Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein

We have a similar challenge in today's business world, in that to be successful it’s not so much about having a great product, although that’s important, and it’s not all about having great service, although that’s important too.  Today’s world is so full of messages coming at us from every side that even a great match can go unnoticed. 

The most important aspect of any marketing message is about getting the product or service in front of the right buyer in a way that they find interesting enough to stop and look.  It’s about properly defining your audience and making sure that you never lose sight of them. 

You need to understand thoroughly who you love working with, and what their pains and their passions are.  You need to know everything about them: where they live, what’s their culture, their language, their occupation, and where do they like to go on social media.   To make a match between your product or service and your ideal client you need to understand how they want to be helped.

Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.~ Seth Godin

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