• You’re creating something new. Or thinking about it.

    How do you launch it? How do you create a powerful promotion strategy for it? How do you get the word out? How do you make sure your new thing is a success?

    Marketing. It’s unavoidable. It’s necessary. It’s changing.

    The rules are changing. The game is changing. The old ways aren’t working any more. Have you noticed?

    There’s a new way. It’s not easier, but it’s so much more powerful.

    The tried and tested marketing model

    Here’s how the old way goes…

    1. Define your ideal customer
    2. Make something you believe that customer would pay for
    3. Wrap that something in marketing that will hit that customer target
    4. Sit back and watch your sales grow

    It’s been around a while. It seems entirely logical. And it’s what most people teach (and profess to use).

    And it works really well…

    …if (and this is a big fat hairy if), you already know who your customer is.

    And I don’t mean theoretically (like you sketched it out on some funky worksheet), I mean you actually, literally, really, experientially know who they are. Because you’ve sold stuff to them already.

    I once created a brand new 3-month coaching program in two weeks, concept to launch. We sold it out with 2 emails, in 3 days. Nailed. We were stoked.

    But. We already knew our customer really well. We’d run an online conference 18 months previously, with the exact same customer, so we knew who they were. Precisely.

    What happens if you don’t know your customer?

    Indeed.

    And further, what happens if you don’t know what the product is either?

    The old method works really well because it’s operating within small margins of error. Existing companies use it to great effect when they research a new product, because they have years of experience with their customers.

    The assumptions aren’t too hairy. It’s not a leap into unknown abyss, it’s a calculated step down a well mapped corridor.

    But when you’re creating something radically new, when you’re birthing something that’s on the edge of your own comprehension, when you’re working out what-in-the-hell-it-actually-is as you go, the old marketing method doesn’t work.

    In fact, it’s spectacularly ineffective.

    Because making something genuinely new is inherently unpredictable and risky. And despite your best efforts to map it all out using marketing blueprints, you can’t predict the unpredictable. You can’t make the risky safe.

    The claim that you can use old predictive marketing for genuinely new entrepreneurial creations is one of the most widely spread myths I see in business. It doesn’t work.

    Here’s what to do instead

    It’s really simple (but not easy).

    1. Reveal yourself – who you really are – and what you really care about, radically
    2. Create your work, say what you have to say, and share it, continually
    3. Allow your natural, organic, authentic tribe to show up
    4. Make things that serve them, and grow the tribe

    Your natural tribe is just that. Natural. It already exists. They’re already out there. You don’t get to choose them. Just like you don’t get to pick your family. You get to discover them, as you discover yourself.

    When you reveal your own essential shape, then you create space for the reciprocal shapes to find you.

    The more you reveal yourself, the more your tribe will reveal itself to you. The more you discover yourself, the more your tribe will discover you.

    And then you just make stuff that supports the tribe to grow, and your business grow.

    There’s nothing standing in your way

    The powerful thing about this new way? There isn’t a whole lot of preparation necessary.

    You don’t need a plan (there is no plan).

    You don’t need a website (just share your stuff on facebook).

    You don’t need a product (you’re the product).

    So, when there’s not much in the way, it tends to illuminate the inevitable excuses that we’re making to ourselves. The excuses that obscure the fact that we’re afraid.

    It’s scary to disclose yourself.

    But that’s the game. It’s powerful, it’s new, it’s real.

    How can you start playing?

    Ewan Townhead

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  • Marketing isn’t about advertising anymore. You can’t build a product and then hope to ‘find an audience’ for it. Mad Men is truly over.

    The new marketing is being who you are, attracting your natural tribe, and then creating products that deeply serve them.

    As Seth Godin says, “You don’t find customers for your products, you find products for your customers.”

    So how do you gather a tribe? How do you find more of the people you’re here to serve? Well, I’ve drawn out 5 ways for you.

    I was resistant to writing this piece

    I confess, I’ve avoided more practical articles like this so far. I’m not totally sure why. Part of me has assumed that this blog had a more philosophical identity. But I also know that’s my comfort zone.

    So, this is me walking my talk, and choosing to create new stuff despite feeling resistance.

    I’ve done a lot of marketing the last few years. I know the conventions really well. I know that a small business that doesn’t focus strongly on marketing is going to struggle. I also know that non-vomit-inducing marketing is hard to come by.

    And yet, I think the new marketing really does transcend (and exclude) vomit.

    So, let’s get stuck in. How do you grown your tribe? Here are 5 ways…

    1.     Share your wisdom (consistently)

    This really is the bed rock. That’s why everyone’s dog has written about it. You want to grow your tribe? You need to show up and share what you’ve got, so they can find you. No sharing, no gathering.

    Share your wisdom. Whatever it is that you think can help folks, give it. Don’t hold back the good stuff for some vague future product. Lay it all out.

    It’s a process of self-revealing. When you disclose who you naturally are, your natural tribe will naturally find you.

    And if you want to do this effectively, you’re going to want to be consistent.

    Whatever it is you’re putting out, put it out regularly. As you get better at saying what you have to say, and people get more trusting that you’re going to keep saying it, your tribe will increasingly grow.

    2.  Say the things you don’t want to say

    Show yourself. Radically. Share the thing that you don’t want to share. If you’re not quivering as you click ‘publish’ you probably played it too safe.

    No-one changed things without making a ruckus. No-one followed a leader that wasn’t radical. You can’t create a new tribe without dividing opinion.

    What are the things you don’t want to share? What are the things that seem inappropriate? What do you fear will piss people off? What do you worry might ruin your reputation?

    If it’s deeply important to you, you feel it in your heart, and you know it needs to be said; say it.

    Losing 10% of your community because of a controversial share is a good thing if the other 90% love you even more deeply for it.

    3.  Say the things you do want to say

    Share what you care about. Yes, you’re here to help and serve. But if you don’t fundamentally feel excited about what you’re sharing, people will feel it, and they’ll turn off.

    Forget your ‘target market’. Ignore the strategic leverage. Share what you know you’re here to share. Say what you want to say.

    What would you talk about if you could talk about anything? What would you talk about if you didn’t have to do anything except drink strawberry smoothies through a straw for the rest of your life?

    Talk about that, and see who shows up. That’s your tribe.

    4.   Signpost the route

    “Build it, and they will come.” Except they don’t.

    You need to show people how to find you. You need to signpost the route. Maybe you prefer an understated little sign with a personal message. Maybe you prefer a big flashing neon monster.

    But you do have to sign post it.

    “Tribe this way. We’re into preserving the endangered Tualamanian nose flute. If you want to join come this way.”

    Facebook. Workshops. Email. LinkedIn. Meetups. Parties. Wherever you think your people hang out, mark a trail back to your tribal home. And welcome them when they arrive.

    5.  Interrupt people

    When I’m designing marketing strategies for my business or clients, the end goal is always creating trust and intimacy. It’s about getting into genuine relationship with them, for the long term.

    That’s the most effective long term strategy I know. And it’s what feels good in my heart, and my bones.

    But to get into relationship, you’ve got to make contact.

    Today’s market place is like a packed room at a party. It’s loud, fast and fickle. If you stand alone in the corner (like I prefer to do at parties) and hope people wander over and strike up a conversation with you, it’s going to be a slow and lonely process.

    You need to interrupt people.

    Which is why, for the first time ever in four years in this game, I decided to use a (hopefully tasteful) popup. Scroll a little further down and you’ll find it.

    Interrupt them. Make contact. Touch them. Then you can build a relationship, which grows your tribe.

    Ewan Townhead

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  • There is a new kind of product on the market. The demand is immense. The competition non-existent.

    It is not a product that can be held in your hands. It is not manufactured in factory, or assembled from components.

    It is not a product that gives you the answer, or instructs you how to. It is not based on scientific proof, or the secret that makes a million dollars.

    It is a product that is irreplaceable. It is a product that has untold power.

    It is the product of your own wisdom.

    When the Merchant meets the Artist

    This new product is the child of very different parents – the merchant and the artist.

    The merchant is concerned with offering something that solves a problem.

    She is concerned with the needs of her customers and clients, and she works hard to satisfy them so she can profit from their mutual exchange. She is concerned ultimately with improvement, and by providing something that her customers want.

    She could be selling incense, software, smart phones, tarot readings or business coaching, the economics are the same. She can produce her product for less than she receives from her buyer.

    Her and her customers both profit from the trade. She makes an honest living. They receive things they need at a fair price.

    The artist has a completely different concern. He is not concerned with improvement, he is concerned with expression.

    He seeks to express an aspect of his experience, of the human experience, of the mystical experience, through some kind of medium. He creates.

    The artifact he creates could be a painting, a song, a book, a play or a show. While the form varies, the intent is the same – to express the inexpressible without conclusion.

    He creates beauty through ambiguity and imperfection. And his audience is able to deepen their own appreciation of life through his representations.

    Historically, these two vocations were separate. Merchants were concerned with meeting existing needs. Artists were concerned with creating new realities.

    Merchants were about consolidating society. Artists were about changing society.

    These two things are no longer separate.

    When the merchant and the artist are combined, and create something, it is a new thing.

    It is a wisdom product.

    A wisdom product is an artifact that contains the service of the merchant, and the expression of the artist.

    It is a business product, something designed to be of service to another human being in a particular circumstance, with a particular type of suffering. It meets the needs of both beings, in an enhance of mutual value.

    And it is a piece of art – a provocation of the audience’s experience, not an answer to a problem. It is a story, not a manual. A painting of ideas and experiences, not a blueprint of correct and incorrect.

    A Revolution in Product Development

    A business that creates wisdom products is a different kind of business.

    The supply chain for this business does not involve the shipping of goods. The research and development for this business does not involve scientists in laboratories, or marketers with clipboards.

    The greatest asset of this business is consciousness.

    It’s you, living life, failing, succeeding, and telling your story to other brave souls suffering at the hands of the same challenges that you yourself have faced.

    It asks you to be you, to discover who you are, not as a hobby, but as the product development of your business.

    When you offer your wisdom, as product, it calls forth a deeper relationship between you and your client. A wisdom product does not tell your customer how they should do something, or the correct way to achieve an outcome. It is art.

    It transmits your consciousness and your experience, and helps them walk their own unique path, inspired by your footsteps.

    The wisdom product enables your clients to transform in your light. It enables you to make a business from consciousness. It enables the world to create an economy from awakening.

    Take your Wisdom and Create

    Make it.

    A wisdom product is always imperfect. It is not meant to be perfected. It cannot be perfected.

    If a braking system for a new car is imperfect it creates damage. It damages life, people die.

    If a wisdom product is imperfect it cannot create damage. It can create change.

    A wisdom product is simply a single step on a longer and undefined journey.

    A wisdom product is the step you take along the path to becoming a more awake human being, and a more powerful servant to your clients.

    A wisdom product is the intermediate step before you create the next wisdom product. Because in this sense it is art. And art is never finished.

    And yet, a wisdom product is created to serve, to improve lives. And so it’s ultimate success is not judged by the artist, but by the results it achieves for its purchasers.

    In this sense, it is business.

    The creation cycle of a wisdom product is much faster than the cycle of a physical product. Because it’s not about perfection, it’s about iteration.

    Apple brings out a new phone once a year.

    Seth Godin writes a new blog post every day.

    That’s the difference.

    Here’s the production protocol for a wisdom product…

    1. Make it.
    2. Give it.
    3. Receive the feedback.
    4. Let it go.
    5. Repeat.

    You do not need to awaken your wisdom before creating your product. Your wisdom is awakened as you make your product. Give it. People need you.

    Ewan Townhead

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  • We can think of marketing as having two different ways.

    The first way of marketing is presenting ourselves, skillfully, strategically, deliberately.

    It’s writing our persuasive website copy, designing a logo that gives just the right feel to the brand, it’s concocting our taglines that inspire and inform people.

    This is the common form of marketing. It’s important.

    The second way of marketing is revealing ourselves, transparently, vulnerably, passionately.

    It’s sharing the blog that we don’t want to share because it’s too personal, or feels inappropriate. It’s offering our naked heart, without agenda.

    This is the less common form. It’s essential.

    You could think about the first kind of marketing as being about surfaces. How do I appear to the world? What will people’s first impressions be? Will I be attractive to my ideal clients?

    Surfaces are not less important. It’s like wearing clothes, or getting a haircut.

    The second way of marketing is about the heart. It’s revealing who you really are, even though you may doubt the strategy of it. It is removing the curtains, beautiful though they may be.

    The realized entrepreneur understands both these ways of marketing. For he understands that he is both depth, and surface. She wants to be seen for her true heart, and for her true skin.

    He works hard to create surfaces that reflect his depth in powerful ways – marketing that can attract people magically.

    And she also remembers that the heart of meeting is in revealing herself, and relating to the world from chosen nakedness.

    This First Way of Marketing Is Like Makeup

    I love it when my partner wears mascara and eye-liner. It brings out her big beautiful blue eyes in such an evocatively delicate way. It draws out her natural beauty. It helps me see more of her. I love seeing her.

    And then there’s the woman whose make-up is so thick and loud, that I cannot see her true face. Her natural beauty is smeared over like a mask that she hides behind.

    Salt, I find, is a wonderful ingredient for bringing out the flavors in a dish. I taste them more. But too much and it tastes like something fake and unpleasant. Sometimes, food can be so salty, I don’t know what the natural flavors actually are, or even if there are any.

    So many people are marketing themselves with mountains of makeup and salt, while our hungry marketplace is crying out for something real, something heart-full, something truly beautiful.

    Marketing Is Simply Relating

    Marketing is a practice of relating with the world around you, not persuading the world of your worth.

    Marketing is about seeing your community, clients and customers. And being seen in return. It’s a practice of speaking and being spoken to.

    Makeup is good, and fine. Use it to bring out your attractiveness, and have those with roving eyes notice you amongst the crowd.

    But don’t hide behind it.

    The first way of marketing is an invitation, not a mask.

    What’s in your heart? What do you care about so much that you feel ashamed to shout it to the entire world?

    I want to meet you, feel you, see you.

    Know you.

    Will You Show Yourself?

    You are beautiful.

    It’s not a beauty that can be assessed according to a universal scale, or compared to the beauty of another. It’s yours. Truly and completely.

    And the more you are able to push the voice of your anxiety away, and disclose that beauty, the more the natural world will rise up to meet that beauty.

    When you reveal yourself, your true self, your true community will discover you.

    If you fake it, and manufacture your image from the form of another, you will attract people who are meant to be served by another.

    If you craft your marketing with thick makeup, trying to persuade the world that you are someone you are not, you will attract customers who relate with you as that someone you are not. And they will expect of you, the promises of that someone you are not.

    And they will not be served.

    And you will not be seen.

    Let your marketing be a full expression of who you truly are, and not a mask to divert people’s powerful gaze.

    Let them see you.

    Let those who turn away, turn away.

    Let those who come closer, come closer.

    Ewan Townhead

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