The Most Powerful Word In Marketing

Three Simple Letters are responsible for many of THE greatest marketing campaigns of all time. Just thinking about how powerful these words are makes me wonder if it is THE secret to success in all marketing, and literally THE magic pill that drives enormous sales and massive crowds of starving customers knocking on business doors.

Here’s THE thing. Let’s examine what customers are really looking for. What would you say is THE ONE THING that customers want when looking for a product or service? All their efforts, research, asking friends for referrals and hard work for what? it’s Really Quite Simple… They are looking for THE best solution. THE one answer that solves their problem. THE MAGIC PILL that solves their problem.

When people want to lost weight. Deep down inside they know it basically boils down to losing more calories than they eat. Yet, billions are spent each year on THE newest, hottest, best diet craze. THE south beach diet, THE weight watchers diet, THE atkins diet. THE DIET.

Truth is, we don’t really want to put in the effort. we don’t really want to think at all. We just want THE go to guy. THE one dependable solution that will solve our problems without any real work or effort or facing the reality that life is almost never that simple. There is a lot of gray area in life, certainly more than fifty shades. Most solutions solve some problems, but compromise on other features and benefits. Perfection doesn’t exist in this world.

I was pitching a client who was referred to me that I was convinced I had in the bag. I mean, this client was referred to me by a highly respectable Ecommerce veteran, and I spent many hours outlining an excellent search and social plan for them. I thought it would be clever to pitch myself as a General Practitioner and planned to bring in a Site Speed Expert, A Link Profile Expert, and a Technical SEO pro to bring together a cohesive strategy I would implement. The goal was to get results the right way, and the expert team I put in place was one of a kind, and literally unavailable to the general public. I thought since SEO really is complex when done right, pitching the idea of managing top level strategy and subcontracting to expert for specific functions would be like a doctor, where people expect to go to a specialist for important surgery or medical expertise. Boy was I wrong. I was so convinced I was about to close the sale, when the client fell off the face of the Earth. What happened to him? I don’t know. Either he went after the experts on his own, or he saw weakness in my not positioning myself as THE END ALL solution. THE one guy they need to pay to never have to worry about their SEO again. I am convinced that while my strategy was sound from delivering the best product, it wasn’t congruent with what he really wanted. He wanted THE go to guy.

So, if you want to win in the game of sales, you have to position yourself as THE one guy they can count on. THE one solution to end all their problems. THE magic pill that makes them never have to think about their problem again. Fail to do this at your own peril.

So, what are THE three most powerful letters in marketing? What is THE most powerful word in marketing?

THE word “THE” is what you wanted to hear when you started reading this post. Sure, other words will be needed, and perhaps there are other ways to make sales but nothing is more powerful than being THE ONE AND ONLY SOLUTION!!!