Your Business Is Better, But for Whom?

People are not alike. At least not in the way most of us believe. During the 2020 presidential election, pundits endlessly discussed the Latino vote, Black vote, College-educated White vote, and the Evangelical vote. Too late, it seems, everyone has discovered there is no such thing as a monolithic vote by everyone who looks similar—even when that similarity is profound.

As our culture fragments politically, it reveals a fact about human beings that has always been true but under-appreciated. We are weird. Each of us wired in ways that appear similar, but deceptively so. Yes, it is possible to write a great American novel or to create a blockbuster movie, but those are outliers. Finding a path to reach most of our culture is daunting for those with limited resources. Frankly, the mass market is already well-served. So how can your business find an audience of willing customers?

That brings us to the idea of “better.” Since human beings are so diverse, we are wise to proceed with caution on well-meaning recommendations from others. The idea of a better or best clothing boutique is passé. And there is not a digital marketing agency better than all the rest.

When a marketer arrives and says, “This is better,” he’s wrong. He actually means, "This is better for someone and it might be better for you.
— Seth Godin^[1]

Here is some good news. You can compete by finding a group of customers who, while diverse in other ways, prefer your approach to business. You are “better” for them. Your job is “to find a spot on the map with edges that (some) people want to find,” says Seth Godin. “Not a selfish, unique selling proposition done to maximize profit, but a generous beacon, a signal flare sent up so that people who are looking for you can easily find you. We’re this, not that.”

Our job as business owners is to create value for others by improving their lives using our knowledge, God-given abilities, and hard work. But that is not enough. To reach the edges of the map, to send up our signal flare, we must become storytellers. And our story must be uncomplicated and compelling.

The fact is, pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things. And if we haven’t clarified our message, our customers won’t listen.
— Donald Miller^[2]

Given the importance of a clarified story, every engagement with FlareMark begins with a conceptual branding process. We help you identify the central idea that will attract customers to your suite of products and services. With a clarified story to power our efforts, we design your logo, website, and other marketing collateral.

Your story is your beacon—your signal flare. To attract customers to your spot on the map, launch your signal flare and share your message.

Ethical marketers draw attention to your story; they don’t make it up. It’s yours. Only you can tell it.

Footnotes

Harvey A. Ramer

Harvey has been writing code for twenty years. He builds web applications with React, Node.js, and MongoDB and deploys them to the cloud with CI/CD pipelines. He talks and writes about the Christian worldview, technology, startups, and how differences can become a collaborative asset.