Imagine you could travel back in time two years…
But before you left, you were given a list of everyone who was going to have an outdoor wedding during the next two years.
You’d know exactly who they were.
You’d know exactly what they were going to do.
And you’d have a two-year head start on every other company hoping to serve them.
Your marketing job would be pretty easy, wouldn’t it?
Of course, we can’t travel back in time.
But we can do the next best thing:
We can plant time capsules.
Years ago, I worked with a party rental company in Toronto.
When I asked them to describe their dream-come-true client, they said it was someone planning an outdoor wedding.
That one client might need the tent, tables, chairs, linens, generators…and even the luxury porta-potty.
The only challenge was that those prospects were invisible.
There was no list of everyone currently thinking about having an outdoor wedding.
So instead of trying to convince people to hire a party rental company, we created something designed to compel the right people to raise their hands:
100 Great Places to Have an Outdoor Wedding in Toronto.
Now, think about the timing of that.
Someone who requests that directory probably hasn’t chosen a venue yet.
They certainly haven’t chosen a party rental company.
They’re at the very beginning of the journey.
And that’s what gave us the advantage.
We found them at the earliest moment they expressed an intention to have an outdoor wedding.
From there, we had all the time in the world to educate them, help them and build a relationship while every other party rental company waited for them to start asking for quotes.
That’s the important distinction:
Compelling is different from convincing.
Compelling is different from convincing.
Your first ad doesn’t have to convince someone to buy from you.
It only has to compel the right person to identify themselves.
A lakefront-home guide finds people who want to live on the lake.
An e-bike catalog finds people considering an e-bike.
A book called Stop Your Panic Attacks finds people who would like to stop having panic attacks.
Each one plants a time capsule with someone who has expressed an intention to do something in the future.
And if you can gather 100 of those people today…
Then patiently educate and motivate them over the next 100 weeks…
You’ve created the closest thing we have to time travel:
A head start.