Mavenship
Mavenship
MAVENSHIP
Let’s first define what the term maven means then look at the benefits that come with being one. After that, we will go through the benefits, and steps, you could take to transform yourself into a maven of your industry.
A maven is an expert in a particular field of business. They are well known throughout their industry and very knowledgeable of it. A great example of a Maven would be Bill Gates or more recently, Elon Musk. These often-polarizing figures have achieved celebrity status for both being wealthy, respected, and knowledgeable in what they do. Don’t fool yourself, as becoming a Maven of your industry is no easy feat. However, there are quite a few steps you can start implementing in your company and self, to start becoming one. Even if you do not ascend to a maven, the philosophy contains great nuggets of business wisdom.
Considering the time horizon of becoming a maven is long and hard-earned, it is more effective for your business if you think of the theory of Mavenship rather than as a marketing style. So instead of becoming a maven, your time is better spent finding ways the following advantages can apply to a business, and how the lessons learned from Mavenship make you, the business owner, a better leader.
THE MAVEN ADVANTAGE
Let’s find out what advantages can be harvested from Mavenship in terms of marketing and sales strategy and if you are already familiar with the client over customer mindset or the Theory of Preeminence, you will find similarities in Mavenship
PRINCIPLES OF MAVENSHIP
AVOID CONFORMITY
Let’s take a look at several ways you can harness Mavenship starting with the curse of conformity. At the center of Mavenship is the idea of simply being different from everyone else in your industry. If you only do what everyone else is doing, then there is no reason for customers to go with a younger or smaller company. Do not be the same as the next guy because you need clients to notice you. Differentiation breaks the curse of conformity.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST
Clients act on big purchases when a relationship of trust has been established with them. Make trust your company motto, project it, demonstrate it, and connect it to your marketing, messaging, and sales process. You can build trust with clients by finding ways to equip them with the knowledge to make the correct decision themselves. One way you can deliver this information is by having a weekly podcast, email, newsletter, or blog post you distribute for free.
MAVEN MARKETING VS.
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
Maven marketing makes your company more attractive to potential clients and avoids the strategies traditional marketing often uses. Traditional marketing prefers bombarding prospects with a high volume of ads hoping the frequency is enough to get the message across. While this mass marketing method is proven and effective, it is expensive and often removes a lot of the agency from the company which must wait for the customer to decide to buy. Maven marketing is much more direct and cost-effective.
(1) MAVEN MARKETING
OPTIMIZES
everything within their company with the goal of improving their core service making it attractive. On the other hand, mass marketing results in trying a lot of things that often yield poor quality leads. Since it is simply too hard to know what exactly works with prospects, you are left experimenting with your advertising until you find the correct marketing mix. This is why maven marketing chooses to focus on what works — improving core services and products so they offer massive value.
(2) MAVEN MARKETING IS THE PREEMINENT SOLUTION
Your product/service is positioned to be the only answer to your client’s problem(s). The traditional view is to see what others in your industry are doing and to emulate it but then slightly improve it. The problem with this marketing method is you end up looking like your competitors.
(3) MAVEN
MARKETING
sells clients more value and justifies its higher price because it brings more to the table than other companies. If you think clients are only looking for the cheapest price, then you will meet that expectation and produce a cheap product/service limiting your growth.
THINKING LIKE
A MAVEN
Transform your company with these pillars of Mavenship and the way you have been approaching marketing.
(1) COUNTER PROGRAMMING
Never lose sight of how the client sees things from the outside of your company. As a business owner, you must be addressing the fears, confusion, and needs of your clients. Empathy for the client gives you the ability to see solutions to their problems even before they have them. Simply put yourself in their shoes and pretend you are the one with that problem.
(2) KEY THEME
Create a core principle within your company that connects to everything you do. Link back to your central theme with every action you take, so the client sees your philosophy play out. Have a central theme for your marketing, sales process, messaging, products, and services.
(3) FUTURE PACING
Describe what the future would be like with or without your service/product. Get them to see how much better their life will be with your company’s offering.
(4) THE GROWTH QUESTION
Create a flagship offer that makes your company different from others in the industry. Is your company in the position to grow if you got a ton of new customers every day? What system do you have in place that keeps finding new customers? A service that attracts and then retains those clients is the key to growth. If you are not set up to scale, you can never act on the opportunity to grow.
(5) ASSUME AUTHORITY
You are an expert in your field and the go-to source for industry knowledge. Your position in the marketplace is to serve the niche in the market that is going unmet. You assume your authority and even self-proclaim it because you walk the walk and talk the talk.
(6) INVENTORY YOURSELF
You need to look within and find what is unique about you and then inject that into your company through a story. This story becomes a part of the company’s core identity and can even be used in marketing. Do you have the skills to guide your company?
(7) DEEP DIVE
A part of creating a new industry standard, and creating your own maven persona, is knowing everything there is to know about your industry. Have a deep understanding of the present and future of your industry and make it your mission to always be the most informed. Now we understand what makes Mavenship tick, let’s look at the steps a business owner can take to start marketing like a maven.
STEPS TO
MAVEN MARKETING
Finished This section?
Mark As Complete!
Once you’ve finished reading a topic, be sure to mark it as complete to track your progress. There will be a toggle switch at the bottom of each topic page. The Service Guild page will log your total progress and each pillar section will log its corresponding progress as you go!
Toggle here to mark this section as completed!