Mike's thoughts on how innovators can best get the word out right now...
If you're an entrepreneur trying to get the word out about an innovative product, give me three minutes and I'll explain what you should be doing first. Quick story... I’ve been looking at shade awnings for my truck, and the one that seems to make the most sense is called a Moonshade, made by Moon Fabrications. Small business, husband and wife in a van, but a killer product that delivers a ton of flexibility without the mounting hassle and storm vulnerabilities of a typical 270° overland awning. They have a better solution, a story to tell, and needed help getting visibility among potential buyers. "All Things Overlanding" is a YouTube channel with 21K followers, but all of them are potential buyers of the Moonshade. Moon reached out to the guy who runs it and sent him the product, took his questions and generally made him feel important. Eventually he made the below episode, which I encountered in my research on Moonshade. Approaching 8K views with over 52 comments, but there are loads of other videos like this out there, all by influencers in the space, collectively making people feel more comfortable taking an approach that's probably better than but definitely different from the default. For this business - and for yours - there’s a conversation somewhere already underway about the problem you solve. To win you need to find a way in to that conversation - not necessarily create it from scratch - to get exposure to the people you can help. The surest way to do that is by cultivating relationships with people who are already prominent in that conversation (sometimes called “Influencers,” though I hate that word) to see what they think. Best case is they love it, and tell everyone. Lather, rinse, repeat. Worst case is they hate it and tell you why, which for a good entrepreneur is nearly as valuable a result. #marketing #brand #storytelling