When Guy Kawasaki shares an article on Twitter or a video on Facebook, people pay attention. He’s a thought leader in the marketing space and he served as the original Apple marketing evangelist. Between speaking gigs and evangelism events, he’s also managed to publish 14 books, most of which became bestsellers. If you’re going to learn about marketing from someone, you can’t do much better than Guy Kawasaki.
Here are a few tidbits of advice that stand out:
“Evangelism is selling a dream.”
Evangelists like Kawasaki share their stories because they’re excited about the companies they champion.
The word “evangelist” only applied to religious proselytizers before Guy Kawasaki arrived on the scene. While at Apple, he learned that his own excitement over a product could prove infectious if he shared it with others, and he coined the phrase “marketing evangelism.”
According to Kawasaki, anyone can become an evangelist for a company or product. Customers, staff members, and public figures can all use their platforms and voices to spread the word about a business and to share their excitement about a product or service. When he says that “evangelism is selling a dream,” he means that the evangelist uses his or her own “fervor, zeal, guts, and cunning” to spread the word about an organization.
You can use Kawasaki’s advice to inform your own marketing strategy. Instead of spreading your pitch to everyone who will listen, focus on turning your most loyal customers into brand evangelists. Let them use their own voices to reach their audiences.
“Simple and to the point is always the best way to get your point across.”
When Guy Kawasaki speaks or writes, you always hear the stripped-down, elegant version of whatever he decides to say. He ditches the fluff and filler in favor of simplicity and specificity, and he claims that “simple and to the point is always the best way to get your point across.”
In marketing, it’s sometimes difficult to pare down your words, especially when you’re speaking or writing about your own products and services. However, if you focus on using fewer, stronger words, your message becomes easier to digest and to understand. Follow Kawasaki’s advice by culling your content ruthlessly and using the simplest phrasing to get your point across.
“When you enchant people, your goal is not to make money from them or to get them to do what you want, but to fill them with great delight.”
When Guy Kawasaki talks about a product or discusses the features of a service, he does so with unparalleled excitement and verve. He never runs out of things to say because he speaks from the heart; he doesn’t become a marketing evangelist for a company unless he truly believes in what it does. Consequently, listening to him speak or reading his words becomes an exercise in delight.
That’s exactly how marketing should work. If you’re not delighting your customers, you’re working for your competitors instead of yourself. Rather than focusing on the next hard sell, concentrate on delivering an enchanting experience for your audience. If you can excite people, you can sell products, but the delight must come first.
“What I lack in talent, I compensate with my willingness to grind it out. That’s the secret of my life.”
Hard work is Kawasaki’s key to success when it comes to marketing.
Take a look at Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter feed or check out his bibliography on Amazon. He’s always working, and although he focuses on entertaining and delighting his audience, he’s never afraid to break a sweat as he works toward his goals.
Anyone who tells you that marketing is easy doesn’t understand how the industry works. The same goes for people who claim that you must have an innate talent for the business.
In reality, people succeed in marketing because they’re willing to work through problems and learn the industry. They’re not afraid to build sweat equity in their businesses because they know that success isn’t free. Furthermore, they don’t depend on talent to get them through the rough spots. They’ll just “grind it out” until good things happen.
Learning from experts like Guy Kawasaki can make us all better marketers, but sometimes, we need a little extra help to put us on the right track. Request a free content marketing assessment to learn how you could better leverage content for your brand.