I put the soup bowl in front of Frank and after a few bites, and a few “mmmm…goods”, he asked what we were eating.
Never one to be ashamed of leftovers, I told him it was the same as what we’d had the day before.
Then he asked if I had tailored the soup.
“Tailored?” I said. “What does it mean to tailor a soup?” (while I envisioned measuring the soup pot for a new blazer), and he said, “You know, add things to it. Change it up.”
I had, in fact, added a bit more water to change the consistency, and some nutritional yeast for extra flavor, probably some salt and lemon juice, too.
But I was surprised what I’d done was enough to make Frank think it was a different soup.
Frank, by the way, has an impressively discerning palate. I’m always amazed by his ability to pick out specific flavors. It makes tasting fancy chocolate with him so much fun.
So now, we call any new iteration of leftovers a “tailored job”.
Much classier than saying “I added some stuff to it.”
We’ve noticed a lot of small business owners are afraid to “tailor their messaging”.
They feel pressured to say something brand new all the time, in case their customers get tired of hearing the same things over and over.
But you know what? It’s exhausting to be constantly creating brand new content. Especially when your business is present on multiple platforms.
And there’s just no need for it, anyway.
As author Donald Miller says, “Good marketing is an exercise in memorization.”
Meaning, you should absolutely be repeating what you’re all about, so you help your customers learn and remember your message.
Sure, you’ll say it in different ways, and you’ll use different words, but your core messaging won’t change whether you’re writing a blog post, a video, a social media update, a newsletter, content for your website…
So don’t be afraid to “tailor your message”.
Chances are, your dream customers won’t recognize it from before and they’ll think it’s a brand new soup they’re eating…I mean content they’re reading…or they’ll already love your message so much, they’ll be thrilled to hear it in a new way.
By the way, if you want help developing core messaging that’s irresistible to your dream customers, Frank and I can lead you through a series of workshops, called Marketing Messaging Simplified, just for that purpose.
You may have heard me mention it before? If so…good.
If you’re curious about it, get in touch and we’ll have a chat and see if it’s right for you.
