This weekend my wife, kids, and brother-in-law are driving 3 and a half hours across the state of Florida just to eat a hamburger.
Technically, we are also doing some siteseeing, but the catalyst for the trip was a hamburger.
We are fortunate to live in a state that boasts the best hamburger in the country, according to GQ Magazine and Oprah Winfrey. It’s at a place called Le Tub, in Hollywood Florida, in case you are interested. The service is supposed to be horrible, but the burgers are supposed to be incredible.
Why do you care? What does this have to do with web design and development?
Simple: If a hamburger joint can cause people (and my family is not alone in our quest) to travel 3 and 1/2 hours to buy its products, then web designers and developers can figure out ways to set their services apart to be equally tempting.
How? You have to become more than a commodity. You have to find, and then communicate, ways to set your services apart. You have to reach the top of the pyramid. You have to become the “go to” professional, or guru if you will.
Strangely enough, there is no absolute science to doing this. You know as well as I do that Le Tub may not offer the best hamburger in the world. But Oprah and GQ magazine have enormous credibility. As the humor newspaper The Onion recently noted, millions wait eagerly every day to hear Oprah’s newest instructions and orders. (BTW, if you don’t already visit The Onion, bookmark the site: http://www.theonion.com or get a subscription).
You can build similar credibility (although perhaps on a less grand scale) by getting opinion leaders in your market to rave about you. You can write articles in respected publications. You can collect testimonials. And you can get visible in ways that show your expertise.
Once you reach the top of the pyramid, amazing things happen. Actors in Hollywood, Sports Figures, and Fortune 500 CEOs receive off-the-charts pay because they have reached the top of the pyramid. They don’t work any harder than we do; some may work less. But they have achieved “agreement” that they are special. In some cases, as in sports, this agreement is based purely on performance. But in other cases, especially in marketing/business, how the agreement is arrived at is much more fuzzy and subjective.
In professions, this “agreement” is partly based on substance, and partly based on communications and marketing.
So you can build your credibility right now, with proper marketing.
You too, can be the best hamburger in the world.
See you in a few days, with a few more pounds added to my belly!
March 24th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Yep, credit from highly visible and respected people buy your way to the top.
March 25th, 2006 at 10:50 am
So, Andrew, what did you think of the hamburgers? Were they really good?
March 26th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
They were awesome! Worth the one-hour wait!
March 28th, 2006 at 7:09 am
good point well made
March 30th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
This is my most FANTASTIC marketing tool. It helps that I’m as outgoing as they come. . . and I’m probably the only person on the planet who admits to liking those schmooze gatherings (the new word is Networking, as if we don’t have enough definitions for that word in our lives) where your business card is at-the-ready and you’re more than willing to respond when someone new approaches you and says, “I have a question about websites. . . “. AND, since my second favorite pastime is writing, I write tech/website articles for the Chamber’s newsletter and the local newspaper’s monthly feature magazine. AND, I somehow I wrangled my way into writing a monthly restaurant review, which, of course, satisfies my third favorite pastime: eating! (Sounds like Andrew shares my enthusiasm for that one.) It’s definitely my most cost-effective form of marketing. . . and it’s fun!
March 30th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
ichi:
Way to go! That’s the way to focus on your talents and get visible.
I sure do appreciate your positive attitude, too, which goes a long way!
Happy eating,
Andrew