Monday I wrote a post about marketing perspective—whether we view ourselves as part of our customers’ stories or the other way around1. This morning I remembered a funny example I’ve used before to illustrate a similar point.
Before I left the world of agency marketing I’d started preparing a talk called, “Marketing Lessons from Joe Dirt.” I’m not sure it would have been successful, but there’s a good chance it would have been funny. This scene, known as “the fireworks stand scene,” is one of my favorites. The fireworks stand owner is struggling to sell his products. At the end of the clip we discover the problem: the owner is only selling two types of fireworks because “snakes and sparklers are the only ones [he] likes.”
Joe responds with a simple principle that’s incredibly easy to forget:
Well, that might be your problem. It’s not about you, it’s about the consumer.”
1. You can read my post about being a part of your customers’ stories here.
