Have you ever spent too much time on YouTube to the point where you fall into the deep rabbit hole that is the dark side of YouTube? Most of us have. There are more than 1.3 billion videos on YouTube right now, so it’s easy to get a little lost. One of those videos you may have run across is Jaylen wanting to become a Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan. Oddly enough, Jaylen can teach us a lot about marketing and how when we try to do things all on our own, well, we end up looking like we have no idea what is going on in the outside world. If you haven’t checked out the video, here it is (feel free to scan through it, since watching its entirety is a bit pointless): As business owner you may be thinking the equivalent of Jaylen’s “All I ever wanted to be in life is a Super Saiyan.” You have these big goals for your business, whether to be a thought leader, triple your revenue, or just become a household name in your city. There isn’t anything wrong with having those goals; in fact, every business owner should have similar aspirations.
SO HOW CAN MARKETING DREAMS BE JAYLEN DREAMS?
We decided to do a side-by-side comparison of how Jaylen's Super Saiyan dreams can be a lot like a business owners' marketing dreams:
- JAYLEN: “I used to always look up to Goku and Vegeta, Gohan. I used to just look at them and wonder how come I’m just a human being? I’m so worthless.”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: It’s easy to find yourself looking up at the masters of marketing: Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Nike, heck, even Dragon Ball Z. Making immediate parallels can create a corporate mentality of worthlessness.
- JAYLEN: “Sure, I can run. I can jump. I can flip. We are so limited. When I see superheroes, why can’t we be that exciting and that awesome? Why can’t I, if I’m late for school, just teleport there and be on time?”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: Jaylen’s big mistake is downplaying the things that he’s good at: running, jumping, and flipping. Those can definitely come in handy, especially if you’re late for school. Sure, teleporting would be much easier, but wouldn’t that deplete all your human resources? You wouldn’t even have enough strength to pay attention in class...or something like that. Downplaying the things you are good at with your business is a mistake. If you provide excellent customer service or your product actually provides a necessary service, then exploit that. It may not be as exciting as the other guys, but in time, if you build on what you are good at, then you’ll be able to do the marketing equivalent of teleportation.
- JAYLEN: “I saw a Chinese man turn a piece of paper on fire with just the power of his hands.”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: Just because something works for one business, doesn’t mean it’s a good fit for you. There are some tricks that bring surprising results, but they are very short lived, and if done in a blackhat method, can really hurt your business. So keep in mind, much like Jaylen’s Chinese man analogy, not everything is true.
- JAYLEN: “I believe I can be a Super Saiyan. I know a lot of y’all are laughing, but people who are really on my level of intellect, they understand what I’m saying.”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: Setting your mind to something is the first step to accomplishing something, this much we agree with Jaylen. But unless your marketing budget is exponential or your capital investors have poured millions into your business, making a sudden leap into the marketing stratosphere, just won’t happen. Secondly, don’t surround yourself with “yes men” or those with the same "level of intellect". Be sure to have people on your team that aren’t afraid of forcing the business to look into the mirror of reality.
- JAYLEN: “I’m going to attempt to go Super Saiyan on film.”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: Before making a massive leap, try some A/B testing.
- JAYLEN: “I’m gonna turn the music on.”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: We believe in getting hyped. Just don’t believe in the hype.
- JAYLEN: “My name is Jaylen and I am a Super Saiyan.”
- MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: Nope. Just saying it or believing it doesn’t make it a reality.
GET SOME HELP TO MAKE YOUR MARKETING DREAMS A REALITY
If you are like many small to medium sized businesses, you are trying to do everything marketing-wise in house. That’s not a bad idea, if you have the right people on staff. If you don’t, then you’ll be doing a lot of what we just witnessed: yelling, screaming, rolling the eyes to the back of the head, and tossing clothes to the side, but all to no avail. Don’t waste your time, energy, and money pouring into marketing methods that don’t work for your business. At INFINI Marketing, we bring the outsider’s perspective with tons of experience and know-how. We pinpoint the things that aren’t working and the things that can work so that eventually you can become that Super Saiyan you’ve always dreamed about...just like Jaylen did with a little help.
