BookYol

Concept

Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy, in Michael Gerber's sense, is a deliberate description of exactly who your customer is and why they buy, used to design every point where they meet your business so the impression they form in seconds matches what they came for.

Most craft-led owners market from the inside out. They talk about technique, equipment and years of experience, because that is what they are proud of. In The E-Myth Revisited, Gerber argues that marketing begins and ends with the customer. The customer does not judge your craft the way you do. They react to an impression they barely notice forming: the tone of a phone greeting, the state of the doorway, how long a reply takes, the wording on an invoice. That feeling arrives in seconds, and the reasons come afterwards to justify it. So the strategy has two halves. Demographics tell you who your customer is: age, income, neighbourhood, occupation. Psychographics tell you why they buy: what they worry about, what they want to feel, and what makes them say yes. Every touchpoint is then designed to deliver that impression. It is tested and written down so it holds no matter who is on shift.

A real-life example

Dana runs a small bike repair shop. Her flyers list her certifications and the brands she services. She asks ten recent customers why they chose her, and eight say the same thing. She was the only one who answered the phone on a Saturday and gave a firm pick-up time. She rewrites the flyer around "Ready by Monday, or you'll know why by noon." She adds a noon text update and trains her part-timer to say it the same way.

How to use it

  1. 1Write one paragraph describing your best customer. Cover who they are (age, situation, where they come from) and why they buy (the worry they bring and the feeling they want to leave with).
  2. 2List every touchpoint from first glance to after payment: sign, website, greeting, waiting, invoice, follow-up. Mark the ones that currently send a different message from the one your customer is looking for.
  3. 3Change one touchpoint at a time and measure the result for a few weeks. Then write the version that works into your operations manual so everyone delivers it the same way.