14 Apr 2010, Posted by Cris Buckley in Entrepreneur Change Stages,Implementation, No Comments. Tagged entrepreneur, marketing

Marketing Secrets From a Smart Spider

Photo by photofarmer

I’ve been taking lessons in marketing this morning from a very strategic spider.

It’s finally Spring and I’m looking for excuses to be out in it, so I’ve started my spring porch-cleaning ritual–sweeping away the leaves and dirt, washing windows and doors, preparing pots for this year’s flowers.

And–cleaning the porch lights–one on each side of the front door. Usually, they don’t need much–just remove the glass panes, wash them in soapy water and put them back in.

But this time–the porch light on the left was full halfway up with bugs. Eewww!

When I opened the top of the light, I saw what had happened. A spider had crawled inside, woven its sticky web and captured the entire mass of insects.

I thought about that. The light on the right had no insects inside, no web, no spider. There were a few spider webs outside the light with one or two insects caught in them, but that was all.

Hmmm. The more I thought about it, the more I began to see the brilliance of the spider in the porch light on the left.

How did he manage to capture the whole lot of insects and how does it apply to marketing? Here’s what I think:

1. He joined their space. He positioned himself among them around what drew their attention most–the light.

For us, our greatest position in marketing is in joining our target market around what interests them most. Best is if we actually are one of them!

2. He created something sticky right there to hold them.

From the vantage point of being among our target market, we can learn the greatest needs, problems, concerns and aspirations that they have. Then create a sticky solution specifically for them, and share it with the community we’re already a part of! Voila!

3. None of the spider’s work was done at arm’s length–it was all done in close relationship with the insects that he captured.

Genuine relationship is the most effective and fulfilling means of marketing (and perfect for the new entrepreneur!)

What do you think? What marketing parallels do you see in the story of the spider? What ideas am I missing?

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