How to Eliminate Guesswork and Catch a Big One…

I just returned from a week in southern Wyoming where I gathered with high school buddies for some R&R and fishing.

The first day on the North Platte River I stood knee-deep in the icy water. The only sounds: The rolling river, the occasional screech of a red-tailed hawk, and the “chirp-chirp” of grasshoppers…

…and then…

“Plop!”

The sound of a trout rising to eat his breakfast.

I turned toward the sound and saw the ring of water where the trout rose.

Then I saw another rise. This time I saw a trout’s nose break the surface as he sipped an insect into his mouth. Then I saw another and another and another and another Plop, plop, plop, plop.

It was a feeding frenzy.

I cast toward the action and let my fly drift along the surface, directly over the area where the trout were rising.

Nothing.

I cast again. Another perfect drift.

Nothing.

I decided to try a different fly. As I removed the old fly and tie on a new one, I kept hearing it, more intense than before. Plop, plop, plop-plop-plop.

I cast the new fly. As it floated downstream, trout rose inches from my fly. But they were not interested.

So frustrating!

Finally, I paused and looked more closely at the real flies on the surface. I opened my fly box and found the closest match — a size-20 Blue-Winged Olive.

I tied on the new fly, cast, and watched as the BWO drifted toward the action…

…and then…

…POW! A strike. A rainbow trout took the fly. My first catch of the morning.

When fly fishing, you can have the best equipment; your technique can be flawless; you can put your fly directly over the nose of hungry trout…

…and get nothing.

If the fly you choose is not relevant and interesting to the fishes you target, they’ll ignore you.

You have to look closely and discover what the trout hunger for. What do they crave? What will they consume?

Same goes in marketing.

For many, marketing feels like guesswork. Good marketing tools. Flawless execution. Messages delivered right where the target audience resides, and…

Nothing!

So frustrating.

Here’s the bottom line in marketing — as in fly fishing: If you try to feed them something they don’t want, they’ll tune out and move on.

So you have to pay attention. What do they hunger for? What do they crave? What will they consume?

If you don’t have a good system to answer those questions, you’re just guessing.

And more often than not, you’ll guess wrong. Frustrating!

That system to answer those questions… Many call it market research. I call it story discovery. It’s all about your prospect’s story. Dig deep to understand what makes them tick. What do they fear? What do they crave?

When you answer those questions, you’re no longer guessing, and you’re bound to catch a big one.