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Big, so what we try to do is help all of our clients come up with what we call a “big idea” when they’re doing marketing.
I’ve seen people develop marketing tools like websites and brochures, and go out there and attend trade shows and do all these kinds of things, but the basic content of what they’re pre-senting to their market is boring. It’s flat. There’s nothing there. There’s nothing new or interest-ing. There’s nothing to get the other person excited. You’re just there.
What we believe is that you’ve got to really think a little harder and say, “Let’s come up with a big idea. Something that will get us all excite, that’s a really interesting story to tell, that we can tell other people and get them listening to us. Get the attention of that person that’s in the bunker. Something new that will get them inter-ested.” A big in my case is the lobster book. That’s why I called it How to Sell Lobster. It doesn’t have anything to do with lobsters except for that one story.
Dan: People might misread it as, “How to cook a lobster.”
Bill: It gets their attention. The book’s been out a little while. I run across people who say, “Oh, I read the book. It was great! You’re the lobster guy.” Suddenly, I’m the lobster guy. That’s my big idea, “Here’s something about lobster.” It’s just completely different. They can remember the lobster, and then they associate that with me.
I’ve had many different big ideas, but this is the current one I’m using. It just makes everything stand out. Otherwise, you’re just not going to get people’s attention.
Dan: The book is interesting. It’s like nonfiction, but it’s also fiction.
Bill: It’s a little bit of both. I’m telling my story,these things I learned, in a narrative so it’s not just a boring, “Here’s what I did.” I’m telling it like in a novel. That’s the style of it. I thought it would be useful. People like it because it’s a short book. They get many ideas out of it and it’s easy to read.
Dan: Bill, do you have any marketing mentors? Who did you learn from?
Bill: There’s many people that I’ve learned from. I guess I would start with my dad, because he was the first marketing person I ever knew. He was really brilliant. He was great at coming up with big ideas. That was his thing. Of course, one of his big ideas was dressing me up like a frog and a bunny rabbit, but it worked! He was a terrific influence.