The first time I bought paint, I was 25 years old. We were painting our new office/studio and decided that it was better to do it ourselves. All white walls with a single orange strip running all the way across from one end of the room to the other.
I had never bought paint before, I didn’t even know where to start, but one thing I knew for sure was that I would be buying DuraCoat paint.
Why? Because of Peter Marangi. For years as a child, Marangi the influencer before “influencer” was a thing, kept on appearing on TV telling me how great DuraCoat was, best part is that he was funny. I couldn’t remember the jokes, neither could I remember what he used to say about the paints, but I remembered him and that he was very passionate about this specific brand of paints and that is what I went for.
The paint did not disappoint (this is not an ad).
The other person I can never forget is Michael Power, the Guinness superhero. The man was such a legend a whole song was written about him and the beer by another Kenyan great (Michael Otieno Ooko), to this date, I don’t know if he just decided to write the song or if he was paid to pull off such a master piece, it sounds just as good today as it did 18 years ago.
Michael power was such a badass he could probably beat Chuck Norris in a one on one fist fight. Growing up, all the boys wanted to be Michael Power, with or without the beer.
This is the power of who tells the story of your brand/product.
This person is just as important as the message itself.
If Peter Marangi was not funny, chilled out and relatable, I probably would never have remembered DuraCoat. Guinness was the coolest beer in my eyes for a long time simply because of Michael Power.
If you have the budget for today’s influencer marketing strategy, finding the right person to talk about your product can make or break your sales/revenue projections long-term. This person has to feel and look like they really do use what they are trying to sell, it has to feel natural.
If Lionel Messi starts talking about his Crypto startup, I know that is a scam, but I would drink his natural extract glucose powered energy boosting bottled water, still a scam, but I would drink it.
These days, companies use a mix of both micro (small following good engagement) and large following influencers to help push their products. If you can find one who fits your product and audience well, a long term partnership goes a long way because it takes time to influence and change people’s opinions about the products that they use.
Just last week, Ridge, a company that makes really cool everyday use accessories such as wallets, rings, key holders among others, partnered with Marques Brownlee, a bigtime Tech Youtuber on a 4 year, million-dollar contract + equity in the company. Marques will join Ridge as chief creative partner and will not only help with shining a spotlight on Ridge products to his 18 million subscribers but will also take part in shaping some of the products that will come out of Ridge in the time he will be with them.
If you are small founder, then you are the chief influencer of your product. Talk about it, a lot. Do research on the simple Ads that have made great impact and led to major revenue for small startups, steal like an artist. Do research on how to really connect with your target audience, most often it is usually never that complicated.
More than anything try different, iterate often, be human.
Don’t just sell the product, sell the outcome. How does it make the future of the customer better?
If you are a developer you don’t sell websites, you sell customer conversion, acquisition and retention channels.
If you are an organic produce farmer, you sell the long term benefits of eating healthy produce.
If you teach French online, you don’t sell the course, you sell the why. Why do people learn a new language? To get a new job? To be able to move to a new country? This is what you sell.
Here is a list of simple marketing techniques that can help you push your products.
Worth a look:
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💸 A newsletter that shares success stories of people who have grown and sold websites
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