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Branding

The 3 YES Solution: How to Create Trust in a Skeptical World

I spent last weekend at the Thought Leader Business Summit, and we spent the last day talking about the elephant in the room — last year many of the leaders in our space saw their engagement and sales drop by up to a third.

Open rates, down.

Launch sales, down.

Live event sales, down.

You could feel the tension in the room.

Many people were openly asking – “what’s changed?”

I had been noticing a shift for awhile. We’ve moved to a “3 YES” World — and by the end of this article you’ll understand what that is, what it means for you, and how to attract more clients, customers and sales.

To explain, let’s go back in time…

Back in the day, all you needed for a successful product launch was a simple, clear argument. A “why-to-buy message” that appealed to the head. This is the Logical YES, the first of our 3 YESES.

But that was before the online world started to get crowded. Before emerging entrepreneurs began to flood the market with more buying options.  As more and more offers, opportunities and products flood the market, the online market quickly become more sophisticated.

And in that world, if you wanted to inspire someone to buy, you needed to add in a second YES — the Emotional YES that appeals to the heart. In other words, you needed to find a message and a story that created an emotional connection with them.

And thus, “Authentic Marketing” was born.

But now, even that second, Emotional YES is no longer enough. These days, we’re becoming increasingly wary of being manipulated by talented people able to fake an emotional connection with tricks, and blind us with promises of a future that we want for ourselves.

That’s where our 3rd YES comes in — the Visceral YES.

In other words, you have to pass the “gut” test.

Browsing the net, our “spidey senses” are on constant full alert as we try to sift between fakery and the real deal,  and you can ONLY pass the “gut test” when the look, feel and tone of your words and your visuals (in other words, your brand) align with who you really are and create that wonderful feeling that everything “checks out”.

A great brand can trigger all 3 of these YESES instantly, and it’s ONLY when all 3 YESES are in place that people fully commit to buying.

As the web goes increasingly visual, if your brand doesn’t pass the “gut test” and activate the Visceral Yes almost instantly, you’re dead in the water.

Branding used to be something for the big boys. The corporations. Not for the little guy. Something to do when you’d “made it”. Now having a great brand is necessary just to survive.

IMG_3606And this Branding Revolution isn’t just happening online, it’s happening in the “real world” too.

Over the last 3 years, I’ve watched as the old “mom and pop” signage on storefronts that run down Lincoln Blvd here in Los Angeles give way to real brands that mean something…

And recently on a trip to New York City, I spotted a sandwich board outside Gansevoort Market that floored me.  Every. Single. One. Of the pop-up shops inside the market had just incredible branding.

Why?  They’re catering to a market of millennials who became buyers in a “3 YES” world.

Branding is no longer optional.

Branding is no longer just the domain of the Fortune 500 companies and “real businesses”.

Whether you’re selling sandwiches or trying to inspire someone to take action to change their life, welcome to a 3 YES World!

Let me know how this landed for you in the comments and what you’re most excited about implementing.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know...

  1. Denis Avatar
    Denis

    It allways bothers me why no one dare challenge you on the really big picture! And what might be the real causes of the down turn in sales. Like for every ‘successful’ business it costs many people to fund and fail. Or Pyramid schemes always eventually fail. Businesses are built on the backs of others.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      HI Denis – I see businesses as built on the shoulders of giants, rather than on the backs of others.

      At this moment in time in our industry, we have the opportunity to level up the value we deliver and the results we get for others.

      When the online training industry first began, it was forged by people who had figured out how to do something for themselves, but who did not necessarily know how to teach others how to do it for themselves… I think many people inadvertently created courses and programs that didn’t support people in getting the results they were looking for. That’s changing now as the lower-quality players are falling out of the market and the ones with a true commitment to value and service are stepping forward to create a new path.

      Times like these are in invitation to reflect on what’s changing and how to change with the market.

  2. Francois Williams Avatar
    Francois Williams

    …like…

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