You Are the Best Thing About This Blog!

You…that’s right, you.

When I sit at my desk or on my patio (as I am right now) and write, I imagine that you are sitting across from me in the other chair sipping a lemonade (cuz it’s warm out today. Shhh…I won’t tell anyone it’s spiked if you don’t!).

We’re chatting.  We joke, we laugh and we dream together. Two vagabonds on this road called “life”.  Like the best of friends.

Your Amazing Wisdom

The insight you provided on the recent post about my experience at the farmer’s market last weekend was fantastic and it got me thinking.

As you know…(See how I am pretending that you have nothing else to do with your day except read my blog; and so of course, you already read and commented <hint, hint> on that post? Right?)…the lesson I culled from that experience was to never assume your readers know what you want them to do or where you want them to go when they arrive at your website.  You have to show them!

Then I realized (thanks to Roy at Celebrations) that I had made a bad assumption when writing that post. And we all know what assuming does!

Assume=Ass+U+Me

That’s right. Assuming makes an ass of you and me! (but in this case, just me, I hope.)

I had assumed that your product or service had been perfectly researched and positioned with your audience.  Silly me!

Have You Made This Dangerous Assumption?

Have you assumed that your latest and greatest widget is exactly what the doctor ordered…for your customers?

The way in which we make an ass of ourselves (and we all do it…just check out my book) is that we assume that our readers or potential customers want our latest, greatest “whatever-it-is”.

With my book, I assumed that (unnamed, un-identified) people would be interested in my spiritual journey.

I assumed that people would want to read about and learn from the insight I had gained on my journey.

I assumed that writing a book was the best way to share that journey.

I assumed people would flock to buy said book for it’s riveting prose and life-changing insights.

</sarcasm>

Now all of these things might be true.  Except #4…I’m pretty sure of that one since I’m not writing this post and sipping spiked lemonade with you from a private island!

The sad truth is that each of these assumptions have caused me not to be as successful in communicating my message (which I’m passionate about) as I could have been.

I don’t want that for you, so here is a useful lesson you can apply to your business immediately. I learned it recently from Ash Ambirge at the Middle Finger Project.

People don’t buy what they need, but they nearly always find a way to buy what they want.

This should be common sense, but it is not for a lot of “assumptive marketers” out there.  But you are not an assuming marketer anymore, you are an enlightened (now that you’ve read this post) marketer!

Find Their PITA, and You Won’t Be Their PITA!

Marketing to your community is easy and ethical when you know what your community wants. So ask them. Often.

Find out their greatest PITA (pain in the ass…just don’t be one), find a solution and offer it to them. Easy as that.

Now, more than ever we have the tools to connect with our community and get their feedback. Most of the time we are just too afraid of criticism, or worse, we are too self-involved to realize that we have become self-indulgent.

Constantly put into practice the polling of your community regarding their PITA, and you’ll never make an ass of yourself like I did by assuming that you know better than they do what they want.

As a step in practicing what I preach, I want to ask you to let me know what your biggest PITA’s right now are.

What are the biggest obstacles you face (in business or life)?

What would you like me to write a post about?

Use the contact form of this site to send me a message or post it up in the comments and I’ll do my best to add it to my list of blog post ideas.  Perhaps we can make suggested posts a regular feature.

Questions For Conversation:

Have you asked your community what their greatest PITA is?

Have you asked them recently? (It changes, just like yours does)

Have you brainstormed ways in which you can alleviate their PITA?

Have you created a product or service tailored to their needs which will alleviate or eliminate their PITA?

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net