I knew it would happen sooner or later.

Those trademark 100-degree days have arrived in Texas.  Shame, really.  It had been a mild summer up until this point.

Now’s the time to hunker down next to the nearest air conditioner or body of water for the next 2-3 months.

It’s not so bad, really.

My days don’t change all that much…

I see more movies, exercise in the morning instead of right before dinner, and I sweat a lot more.  That’s about it.

I’m used to the heat.

The dog days of summer are here!

The biggest problems I have with summers here aren’t the temperatures; they’re the people whining about them constantly and wishing things were different.

These people have an amazing talent for pointing out the mundane.  “Wow, it’s really hot today…”

Yes, I imagine it will stay that way for the next few months.

They waste emotional energy on complaining about things that are completely out of their control.

Seems silly… because it is silly.

I swear half of the people I hear saying these things must be marketers.

They put themselves in an environment.  Then they try to exercise their limited authority to control that environment to their advantage. 

But they neglect the fact that there’s another option: moving to a different environment that’s more suitable.

There are two components to great marketing:

1.  Offering something people want and are willing to pay you to get; and

2.  Getting the word out about what you’re offering to as many people as you can

Too many bad marketers get so caught up with the second element they forget about the first (and more important) element: having something people want.

When you create a product or service to sell, you’re thrust into an ecosystem of potential buyers.  You’ll make the most money if your offer is specifically designed to suit those buyers, instead of convincing them it does with a lot of slick marketing.

You know that saying, “he’s such a great salesman he could sell ice to an eskimo?”

Well, the guy may be a talented salesman, but he’s also a stupid one.

He’d be better off putting some thought into how he could get those prospects something they all actually want – say, space heaters – instead of spending all that time and effort convincing a handful of them to buy some ice.

A lot of marketers come off as professional whiners. They try to hard to convince people to buy stuff they don’t need, instead of focusing on delivering the right stuff in the first place.

Which business do you think would do better in Texas right now?  A shaved ice stand that brings in customers through Yelp and word of mouth… or a hot coffee place with a larger marketing budget?

It’s not even close.  One suits the environment perfectly.  The other… has a big marketing budget.

Competitors with giant marketing operations shouldn’t scare you If you’re the one selling what people really want.

Get that piece in place first, and then get in touch with me to find out how a few cost-effective moves can take your business straight past your larger, less-prepared “competition.”

And if you just want to dial down the heat in a Texas summer, you can aways find an industrial air conditioner or take a drive up I-35 (I hear it runs all the way up to Minnesota!)