In Part 1, we touched upon examples from the Motley Fool – and how they use relevancy to flip on the buyer’s switch for a tsunami of profits…

To recap: any time you can tap into the conversation going on in your prospects’ minds and/or provide them with a relevant reason to buy, you will find yourself benefiting from interest, desire, and sales.

Perhaps you’ve heard this saying before: “People hate to be sold, but love to buy.”

In my book, The Predictable Profits Playbook, featured expert Rich Schefren commented that the moment people feel marketed to, they’ll pull back.

The Best Marketing Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing At All

Easier said than done…

But when you make your marketing interesting, educational, and entertaining – suddenly, it feels more like information than marketing.

Let’s take another example from the Motley Fool:

The reason this works great for Fool is not just because they’re tying in market news with a sales message, but because they know that their ideal market is keenly interested in market events and how they will shape their ability to earn money. 

They know what’s important to their market – and create content to satisfy their ongoing curiosity and thirst for this information. It’s true that you can bring a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink… But when you have a thirsty horse, a little water can be game changer.

And if you want to dominate your market in today’s environment, using relevancy in your marketing is not optional – it’s critical. Here’s why:

According to Russell Brunson, the attention span of your average consumer in the 1980s was 20 minutes. In other words, once you got their attention, you had 20 minutes to influence, persuade, and convince them that you are worthy of their business.

Can you guess what the average attention span is today?

Seriously… Take a second a think about it… With smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, internet, etc. – not to mention distractions like Facebook, Twitter, instant messages, and so forth… All taking away from your prospect’s attention span – how much shorter do you think it’s gotten?

Got your answer?

I’ll give it to you in…

3…

2…

1…

Drumroll please…

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the US National Library of Medicine, the average attention span of a human being in 2013 dropped to just 8 seconds. Can you imagine that?!?!

To put it into perspective, that’s one second less than a goldfish!!!!

That means that you not only need to get your prospect’s attention (a strategy we’ll cover another day), but also that once you do, keeping it is critical…

And when you create marketing that is specifically relevant to what they want… What inspires them… What motivates them… What problems they’re trying to solve… What fears they’re trying to abolish… You earn more of their attention. Relevancy matters.

Look, what we’re talking about here isn’t “new” – it’s just ignored.

…And it does have a term, it’s called “content marketing.”

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

If you’re among the majority of entrepreneurs who believes that their target audience is “everyone” – well then, Houston, we have a problem. You see, relevance is really tied to a specific group, who has a specific problem during a specific time.

As Arment Dietrich of Spin Sucks points out: relevance and value aren’t about you. It’s always about them.

Sure, you have a product or a service to sell, but keep the focus on how your product/service can solve real-world problems for your prospects and customers.

Here are some more examples of marketing relevancy for you to consider:

• A chiropractor puts out an article on the proper snow shoveling techniques to save your back, and how chiropractic care keeps you from getting injured
• A landscaper shows a video explaining the best way to get rid of grubs without destroying your lawn (or your water) with dangerous petrochemicals
• A national carpet cleaning business writes an ad in dog magazine about the importance of regular carpet cleaning due to the pests, dirt, and germs dragged in by your canine friend
• Heavy winds in the forecast and a dating company reveals creative tips for having a romantic evening when the power goes out
• With Easter approaching, a financial services company writes an article about the dangers of having all your eggs in one basket

What’s on your prospects’ minds? How can you tie this into a marketing message that’s relevant and valuable?