Graphic Arts Magazine April 2019 | Page 18

Cover Story FIRST: BE REMARKABLE FIRST: Be remarkable Being remarkable is a worthy and noble pursuit. But how is ‘remarkability’ defined? Simply put, in order to be remarkable, you must be or do some- thing that others can remark about. So what does it take to be remarkable? That’s a more challenging question to answer because what it takes changes every day. Therefore, you have to change too. When thinking about remarkability, do something worth talking about. Offer something different from your competitors, or offer some- thing similar in a different way. Do this instead of lowering your prices to compete. Being the only option to customers who want what you’re offering means that your price is your price. And that’s what they’ll pay if they want to work with you. 18 | April 2019 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE Lowering your price in lieu of remark- ability is a losing race to the bottom. Furthermore, Godin argues that waiting for a Request For Proposal (RFP) means that you’ve already lost. If potential clients are sending you an RFP, it means that they don’t care about all of the special offerings they can get from you, which is exactly why they’re sending you an RFP. In other words, if your prospect can write it down, they can likely find it cheaper elsewhere. The reason they want you to fit in, is so they can ignore you. It’s the intangibility of your offerings that makes customers want to work with you – an intangibility that your com- petitors will have a difficult time copying. SECOND: Storytelling is the ‘secret sauce’ Storytelling is a powerful, age-old technique to get people to listen to what you’re saying – and more importantly, actually care about what you’re saying. Take the Tiffany & Company brand, for example. Tiffany’s rich history of craftsmanship and innovation as an American company in an industr y dominated by European companies has enabled the brand to write the age-old tale: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy asks girl to marry him. And, he turns to the most trusted name in jewellery because he purchases a ring that’ll express just how deeply he cares…..the one with the little blue box... ..the one from Tiffany & Company. But how much is that little blue box actually worth? Godin argues that it’s worth a whole heck of a lot more than graphicartsmag.com