None of us got to where we are without the help of others. One of the people who has contributed to the success we had at Selling Among Wolves in 2007 was David G. Johnson of Epiphany Marketing. His specific area of influence had to do with the growth of our business using the internet. Because his input was valuable to me, I thought his input might be valuable to you as well. With that in mind, I have asked him to contribute the content for the blogs this week. He is limited to just a few blogs this week, so I suggest you don’t miss a one of them.

In my work with clients over the years, one thing I’ve observed is that most marketing mistakes made by businesses both small and large come from a fundamentally poor understanding of the real identity of the business. If you don’t know who you are, how can you properly introduce yourself to your future customers? In truth, how can you have any real clear idea about who your future customers are if you aren’t crystal clear on who you are? It’s an extension of a personal identity crisis that gets carried over into the business world, and it’s much more common than I ever would have imagined had I not observed it first-hand again and again.

To illustrate this phenomenon, I’ll let you in on one of the processes that I take nearly every client through to help them better understand who they are. It’s actually a very simple process, but is typically overlooked. It begins by asking the very simple question: what is your true product or service?

Before you respond with the most obvious answer, let me ask it a different way. What business are you really in?

Most companies (and this is particularly true of small businesses) define themselves too specifically and do not think about the answer behind their answer.

To illustrate this, let’s use a well-known company as an example. Starbucks roasts coffee beans purchased from growers all over the world and sells them primarily by making drinks out of them in their local retail stores. What business is Starbucks in?

a. Coffee

b. Beverages

c. Legal Addictive Stimulants

d. Entertainment

Be sure to watch your inbox for details of an important marketing meeting David and I will be holding very soon!

It’s Rainforest Friday, where we use God’s creation as a text book for business. One of the most fascinating things to observe in the rainforest is the practice of marketing. It’s what the flowers and orchids do every day. They combine three factors of design, color and scent to transmit a message to a niche market with the purpose of attracting customers to pollinate.

Last week, I spoke of color and how expensive it is for a plant to create, but that it must expend the resources to create color and market its product or it will perish. Without color, we could not see or perhaps only barely see (as in glass) any physical object. In effect, color announces the presence of something, in this case a flower. For all practical purposes, color is to the flower what headlines are to an ad. If the headline grabs your attention, you are much more likely to read the article. Headlines are the ad for the ad!

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 This is “Rainforest Friday”. As you may have noticed, once a week I use God’s creation for a text book. Romans 1 says that “the hidden things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and divine nature.” The kings of the earth came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, much of which he gleaned from the created order. 1 Kings speaks of Solomon saying that “he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.”

On Friday’s, I take you to the rainforest and share with you the wealth building secrets built into the most fruitful, abundant ecosystem on the planet. Today, I want to begin a series that has to do with marketing principles gleaned from the orchid. Walking through the Panamanian rainforest with our guide from the Smithsonian, I was struck by something she said… “In the rainforest, color is very expensive.”

I thought it was very unusual language for a scientist, so I inquired further. She went on to explain that it costs more energy for a plant to produce color than it does to produce the green you see in leaves. I learned that some trees go so far as to shed all their leaves to preserve energy so they have enough energy to produce colorful flowers. The reason, I was told, was marketing. The trees had to attract customers. They used flowers to do this. Without the birds or the bees or the monkeys checking out their flowers, they would never pollinate and thus not be fruitful. So they spend a significant amount of resources to generate new business. You might call that - advertising.

So the question I leave you with today is: If God thinks it wise to spend resources on marketing, do you think we might be wise to do the same?

Until next time, be fruitful, then multiply!

Do you have a product or service that would help thousands but you’re not sure how to reveal it to the world?

Are you concerned about whether or not it will be accepted by the masses or pass the test of the skeptic?

Have you ever wondered if there was a Biblically sound model for growing your business?

Have you wanted to advertise without coming across cheesy or arrogant?

Click here to learn how an obscure prophecy in Isaiah is helping entrepreneurs today increase sales and grow their businesses!

You’ll be glad you did!