The marketing napkin: How to be different

Good morning. Are you already in a weekend mode?

For today I have a new marketing napkin for you prepared. It will be an easy post but I am sure it will make an impact. So let’s order something to drink as we will need our marketing napkin again today! In marketing we talk often about how important it is to be different at to differentiate ourselves from others. But what makes us different in the mind of our customers?

Why I am writing about wine you might think. If you want to know why it is called the marketing napkin and why we order a glass of wine to get a napkin head over to this post: I invite you on a marketing date. 

The question that I want you to answer today is: what kind of expectations do people have when they see your business? Let’s say you are a wedding photographer: what are the expectations that wedding couples have towards wedding photographers. And even better what are the negative expectations they have towards wedding photographers? I know like ten years ago those expectations would be that each wedding photographer will take them to a boring park and let them hug a tree to take some cheesy wedding pictures of them. That is why so many couples write in their first email: „But we don’t like those posed images.“ So think about more expectations couples might have towards „the wedding photographer“. Draw a line in the middle of your napkin take a big sip of your Chardonnay and write on the left side all those general negative expectations. And now think about how you could do things differently to surprise your client in a positive way to exceed their expectations.

A wedding photographer takes cheesy portrait pictures –> show them images about natural poses and relaxed couples during their wedding portrait session. Explain how you like to create a relaxed atmosphere to make them feel at their ease.

A wedding photographer will disturb the ceremony because they run around all the time and they flash into our eyes (they might have seen this behavior on a wedding day and get really bad expectations towards you just because of their experience with another photographer) –> Show behind the scenes images of you standing in in the church without a flash on your camera and just being part of the ceremony without running around. Tell them in that you truly respect the church and that your goal is to work without attracting attention specially during the ceremony.

We want to over deliver all the time and we should start doing this right at the moment a potential clients checks our website. We want to turn their negative expectations towards us into a positive surprise, a positive experience. Meeting their negative expectations and showing how you are different from them will set you apart from many other photographers.

The best thing is: it can be applied to any business. 

I hope you found this post helpful. I am looking forward to read your comments and questions below this post.

Have a lovely (wedding) weekend.