Marketing is about distance.
Specifically, demonstrating value at a distance.
That’s what separates it from sales, which is about demonstrating value in the moment. And branding, which is about demonstrating your values over time.
I’ve spent a lot of money on ads over the years, and I bet you have, too. When we do, what do we think will happen?
Probably something like this:
- Someone sees or hears our ad
- They go, “Wow! Finally!”
- They visit our website
- They fill out our contact form
- We have a call
- It goes great
- They buy in the moment
- We work together and everyone has a great success story to tell
Out of curiosity, has that worked for you?
Bigger question, has that worked for anyone?
Because that’s a lot of pressure to put on an ad, isn’t it? No one really ever buys from a single touchpoint, a single message, do they? Not when it’s a premium service with a premium price, at least.
Which, I suspect, yours is.
And yet we as expert advisors often advertise in ways that can’t work.
We describe instead of demonstrate.
All my disappointing advertising attempts have had the same symptom at their core: Trying to sell in the moment, from far away. Instead of demonstrating value so the prospect wants to take one step closer.
Personally, I blame the marketing funnel. It tells us that all we need to do is fill in prospects at the top, get their attention and awareness, and some invisible gravitational force will pull them downward toward a purchase.
And since these people are, by definition, previously unaware of us, we’re trying to talk to people who are least likely to become our next best buyers.
So maybe the problem was always trying to talk to people that far away in the first place.
The funnel tells you that your ideal clients are somewhere out there.
The Marketing Rangefinder shows you that your next best client is much closer by.
Ideal is an illusion
Because there’s no such thing as an ideal client who’ll never buy. That’s a fantasy, a fiction.
No, ideal clients are actually the next best ones we can get. They’re like your current best client but better for your business in some small and specific way.
Which means the target is not someone far off and uninterested, it’s someone who already knows what you do but needs to know why you’re the best option for them in particular.
Then, you use what they told you about your own value after you work together to inform what you say to people who haven’t yet.
Think about the number of marketing messages you get every single day.
If you spend a few minutes on LinkedIn, you’re up to hundreds within just a few minutes of scrolling. Tell me honestly, how many of those messages change your mind?
Then, think about the last time you really needed to buy something, or hire an outside consultant. Did you work with a business who convinced you that you needed what they sold, or did you work with the business who worked the way you wanted them to?
You can always try to persuade people, and sometimes it works. But most of the time, for most purchases, our job is actually to find the people who already need us, who already share our values and priorities, and make sure we demonstrate that overlap at a distance.
The Four Distances
Our Marketing Rangefinder is a system, a framework for demonstrating value at a distance.
Which means it breaks down your list of possible prospects into four discrete distances:
FAR: They need you but don’t know about you yet.
They’re thinking: “I need help because something happened in my life/work/day.”
CLOSE: They know you but aren’t ready to buy.
They’re thinking: “I need to know who’s the best for my circumstances, budget, preferences, and values.”
HERE: They’re in the process of buying or starting the work.
They’re thinking: “I need to make sure I’m getting what I’m paying for.”
CONNECTED: They’ve worked with you before.
They’re thinking: “I want to influence others to make the same good decision.”
At each distance, our job is to ask targeted questions to understand who exists at each distance and what messages will encourage them to take one step closer, at their own pace.
At FAR, we ask: “Where do they go when they know they’ve got a need? And how can you meet them and make it easy to get closer?”
CLOSE: “What do you believe, and where can you show it? And what don’t you do so you can overdo everything else?”
HERE: “What do they get, and what matters most? And how are you checking in so they don’t check out?”
CONNECTED: “How are they growing, and what have they done? And how can you shape what they share with others?”
When you have the answers to those questions, you have the building blocks for messages that will help pull them closer, one step at a time.
There’s no gravity, no natural force that brings clients closer. Only what you say, and what others say that demonstrates your value at a distance.
At FAR, you tell them enough to know you do the thing they need done, and where to find out more easily and quickly.
At CLOSE, you show them what you believe in that they also believe, and you demonstrate your focus by telling them what you don’t do to prioritize what matters to them more.
At HERE, you prove to them they’re getting value by staying actively engaged with their growth.
At CONNECTED, you encourage them to tell others by reminding them of what they’ve achieved and how that can be described to someone who needs the same thing.
Now, notice what happens when you start thinking in distances, instead of funnels or media:
A fellow content marketing consultant asked me, after learning the Marketing Rangefinder process, “Is LinkedIn a FAR or CLOSE medium?”
So I said, excitedly, because I love this question,
“It’s not about the platform, it’s about the person.
Some people who see your content on LinkedIn will be FAR, some CLOSE, some even HERE or CONNECTED. The content you produce should focus on one distance at a time, but it doesn’t have to be the same distance every time.
So instead of thinking, ‘What do I post on LinkedIn?’, you can think, ‘What should I say to someone who knows me, but needs to know why I’m the best for them in particular? Maybe I should show them what I don’t do so they have proof I’m able to focus on what they care about the most.’”
You can’t know if your marketing will work any more than you can know that a joke will be funny until you tell it to someone.
People and the markets they make up are complex adaptive systems. What your prospect had for breakfast, or how their boss or clients treated them that day, it could all affect how they feel about your marketing message. There are no guarantees.
So you’ve got to experiment, or “feel your way” toward marketing that works because it can work. Because it’s reaching across the right distance with the right message.
When you use the Marketing Rangefinder, you get a tool, yes. An Action Plan. A series of messages you can massage and iterate on.
But more than that, and certainly more valuable than that, you get a new way of thinking about your prospects.
One that respects their journey and their priorities and values. Instead of trying to shove them into a funnel or advertise at them until they buy, no matter the cost.
And it’s available in a few different ways:
1) Freely available here at KelfordInc.com:
We’ve published descriptions of the Marketing Rangefinder and how to use it extensively here in our newsletter. Check out the Rangefinder tag to get acquainted with how it works and how you can put it into practice.
2) Marketing Rangefinder Workshops
“This is honestly one of the best things we’ve ever done. I know that probably sounds like a lot, but I genuinely mean it.”
— Yash Mehta, CEO, Mettara
For a full- or half-day, we’ll take you and your team through the framework, asking the specific questions that lead to specific insights that inform specific messages. You’ll leave understanding your own value and what your prospects value most, and you’ll have real words, phrases, and messages to use to help them move one step closer.
“I’m not joking, it’s so good, and I will happily recommend this to anyone. This was so good. Like, I’ve done a lot of these kinds of things and nothing came close to this. Truly.”
— Kathryn Toope, VP Marketing & Communications, Verecan Capital
3) Marketing Rangefinder Programs
Over the course of 3 or 6 months, we’ll help you identify your next best clients, and where they exist at each distance. We’ll teach you how to create and implement marketing messages that attract their interest, demonstrate your value, and keep them connected to your business. We’ll teach your team how to use the Marketing Rangefinder as a tool in their day-to-day marketing and communication work, and we’ll be there for coaching, training, and ongoing content development.
“Leah and Joel helped me stop spinning (And trying every new thing), and helped me focus and make steady progress in a clear direction. I successfully moved up market and sold my bookkeeping business, and Kelford Inc. made that happen for me.”
— Cheryl Phair, CEO, Phair Consulting Group
It’s our goal that marketers, entrepreneurs, and advisors stop wasting so much time and energy spinning around in circles, so they can start moving ahead in a straight line.
That starts by thinking in distances, so you know where you’re supposed to go next.
If you’d like to learn more about the Marketing Rangefinder and how to use it, or if it’s right for your team, send us a note at hello@kelfordinc.com
Kelford Inc. are content marketers for expert advisors. If you’re struggling with what to say and where to say it to attract your ideal clients, we’ll show you the way.