Memorable Marketing - DirectResponseContentMarketing.com

In my last two articles, I showed you how content marketing can help you to implement the 10th marketing fundamental (aka be memorable).

Well, today I’m going to tell you how to implement it using something besides content.

And the lesson is contained in this incredible story about a man with a unique name….

An Unexpected Goal

It was the 1980’s and Pearl Fryar wasn’t aiming for anything big.

He just wanted to win the “lawn of the month” award. That’s all.

Why? Because when Pearl (who is African-American) moved into the mostly white neighborhood in Bishopville, South Carolina, the neighbors complained.

They said they didn’t want him in their neighborhood. Their reason?
They said it was because African-Americans don’t keep up their yards.

Pearl decided, “I’ll show them!” And he did. But he did it in a very unexpected way.

He went to the local nursery and took ONE lesson on topiary gardening.

Then, armed with FREE “throw-away plants” that the nursery piled up to toss out, Pearl began experimenting with his topiary skills.

And guess what?

He won the “lawn of the month” award!

But something else happened in the process…
Pearl slowly became famous.

Professional topiary artists began to show up to see what he was doing. Pearl said they’d see what he’d done and they were amazed.

They couldn’t believe their eyes! Why?

Because Pearl was doing things that weren’t supposed to be possible.
I LOVE Pearl’s answer to them. He simply said, “No one told me it wasn’t possible.”

And something happened to his neighbors. (Remember the ones who originally didn’t want Pearl there?) They became so impressed they asked PEARL to help them with THEIR gardens!

His fame continued to grow and so did the “Pearl Fryar” brand.

People began to come and visit to see this amazing accomplishment of this man named Pearl.

And they didn’t just come by the car-ful. They began to show up by the busload!

Literally, buses on local tours began to take people to see Pearl’s work.
And Pearl welcomed them all.

People found out that this man with an amazing garden had an equally amazing heart.

The whole time Pearl continued to focus on his accidental passion: topiary gardening.
And as he did, he got better and better.

His skills became so honed and well-known that a woman at the local community college, who taught art classes, asked Pearl to come and speak to her students.

This art teacher was so impressed with who Pearl was and his great skill that she worked out for him to do a show of his work at an art museum.

Pearl shared with the class some of his powerful, simple wisdom.
He told them, “He who wants to rise above the average must do beyond the average.”

But it gets even better.

The man who just wanted to win the “lawn of the month” award was COMMISSIONED by the city of Bishopville to work on the plants downtown and give them that special “Pearl” look.

Even Pearl’s favorite restaurant, Waffle House, asked Pearl to design the bushes outside their location.

(Guess who gets free meals whenever he comes there!?!)

This person who just wanted to win an award became a person that people all over knew of, respected, and loved. (You can watch a documentary about him on Apple TV that’s called, “A Man Named Pearl.”)

What was his secret? His strategy?

Simple like all things that Pearl does. (Pay attention to what I say next or you might miss it.)

He didn’t try to be someone he wasn’t.
He didn’t change his name to fit it.
He didn’t try to copy what all other topiary artists did.

Here’s what Pearl did…
He just was who he was, did what he did well, and did it his way.

And because he did this, people were drawn to him!

They wanted to meet him.
They wanted to experience what he did.
They told their friends.
And then the accidental branding happened… they wanted to be like Pearl so much that they asked him to do what he did FOR THEM.

Are you seeing the lesson for you and your business here?

Listen to how Pearl explains it in his own words, “There’s no way they’re gonna forget me. An African-American guy, in Bishopville, named Pearl Fryar with a topiary garden… And it works in my favor.”

You just heard Pearl’s branding revelation.

I’d say it like this…

Stop trying to fit in.
Stop trying to copy everyone else in your niche.
Be YOU.
Better yet… Be you in all your uniqueness, with all of your idiosyncrasies.

George Washington Carver’s Secret to Being Unforgettable

I’ll leave you with one more take on the way to implement the 10th marketing fundamental. It’s a quote from another unlikely source...

“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
– George Washington Carver

Do this and the world will be drawn to you like they were to Pearl.
You’ll become unforgettable.

IMPORTANT: This article originally appeared on my site RecessionSolution.com.

You learn more about Pearl and how visit his garden here. You can find him on Facebook here.

The 10th Marketing Fundamental

This article is the third one in a series of articles focused on the 10th marketing fundamental. If you haven’t read the other articles, you can do that below:

“If you want to know the future, look at the past.”
– Albert Einstein

“Why should we look to the past in order to prepare for the future? Because there is nowhere else to look.”
― James Burke

The Fundamentals of the Past Reveal the Future of 2022

In 2022, I believe that the biggest marketing breakthroughs will take place at the intersection where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.

The people and companies that will succeed the most this year are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and take advantage of these opportunities by harnessing the fundamentals.

What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.

How do I know this will be true? Because this has been true for a century, before and after the internet.

(I don’t have time to go into details here, but the success of Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other top companies are inextricably connected to the same marketing fundamentals that were used in 1922 and even earlier.)

For that reason, I’m going to continue the series I began a year ago at the beginning of 2021. (Important: I will be updating all of my previous articles to refer to 2022.)

The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2022

Today, I’m going to reveal the 10th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year.

If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.

Here are the first 9 of the marketing fundamentals you need to succeed this year…

The First 9 Marketing Fundamentals:

Here are the nine marketing fundamentals that I’ve revealed so far are in this series:

The first marketing fundamental is attention. Because without attention, there is no marketing.
The second marketing fundamental is attraction. Without attraction, all the work you put into capturing their attention will be wasted.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
The fifth marketing fundamental is your Who or what is commonly called your “target market.” Because if you don’t get this group of prospects right, then all of your marketing efforts will produce little results.
The 6th marketing fundamental is your offer. If you don’t create a powerful offer, even the right “whos” won’t end up purchasing from you.
The 7th marketing fundamental is your copy or the words you use. Once you have the right audience and the most powerful offer for that audience, then the next most important thing to focus on is the words you will use to communicate to that audience.
The 8th marketing fundamental is upselling. All successful companies use upselling to increase their profit per customer.
The 9th marketing fundamental is backend marketing. It isn’t the first sale with a customer that brings you the most profit. It’s all of the sales that you make with that customer for years to come.

Alright, you’re now ready to discover the 10th marketing fundamental.

Prospect and Customer Amnesia?

If your business or company is going to succeed, then your prospects and customers need to remember you exist when they need what you offer.

But here’s the problem: Many prospects won’t buy immediately from you.
Why not? There are many reasons. Here are just a few:

They might want to look around.
They might want to check you out on Yelp or other review sites.
They might not have the money or a strong enough need/desire to buy.
They’ve never heard of you before and want to get “used to” the idea of buying from you.
They just might be in a hurry and not have the time to purchase today.

The problem this causes is that they have to remember that you or your business exists when they finally need or want what you offer.

You might be thinking about your business every day, but your prospects aren’t!

And I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t just true of prospects. It’s also true of your customers!

They might purchase from you once. But when they have the same need/desire again, they might not think of your business first – or at all!

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is true about your customers.

There was a local steakhouse that closed in a city near where we used to live in the Bay Area. When I drove by and saw the building was vacant I realized that I NEVER thought about eating there when I was thinking of a place to go out to.

I totally forgot they were there. And I like steak!

I bet the restaurant owners never realized this. They just thought people were choosing not to eat at their restaurant. In reality, there were probably many people that didn’t even have them on their “radar.”

There are restaurants or other retail stores that I’ve purchased from once in the past and I never went to again.

Why? It wasn’t that I didn’t like the place. It was just that I never thought about them again.

What’s the 10th marketing fundamental? It’s that you must find ways to make your business more memorable to your prospects and customers.

They must remember you or your product when they’re ready to buy what you offer.

You have to come up with ways to help your prospects and your customers remember your business. You have to come up with ways to get them in a HABIT of purchasing from you.

In my upcoming articles, I’ll reveal some things about why you need your business to be memorable that I bet you’ve never thought of.

And I’m going to show you some unique ways to be on (and stay on) the top of your prospect’s or customer’s mind.

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Catch Up on What You Missed in This Series

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If you would like to learn more about any of the above fundamentals, then click here to choose any articles you’d like to read. (There are now 50 articles you can read in this series.)

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Category: Memorable Marketing

The Amazing, Crazy Story of How a Man Named Pearl Accidentally Became a Brand