Yes, your ego is destroying your marketing…and costing you thousands, if not millions of dollars of lost revenue for your business.
The scary part is, you are probably using it unconsciously right now in your business.
Your ego is dangerous because of several reasons:
1. You start thinking your business’s DNA is different.
You think that what works for other people doesn’t work for you because your business is ‘one of a kind’. Guess what happens then? You start ignoring the market intelligence that is out there. You ignore opportunities and ways to grow your business faster.
Recently, I met with a lawyer who wanted to explore how they can improve their business. I tried to explain how to turn things around but each time I was shut down mid-sentence with phrases like ‘I know’ and ‘This won’t work for my business’.
Honestly, I really had to restrain myself from walking out half way. Since he ‘knew everything’ and there wasn’t much point for me to say more.
Now here is the interesting part: his business is struggling. Bleeding cash and barely making ends meet. So sadly, in this case, his ego prevented him from letting me help him turn around his business quickly.
My advice: drop your ego, be curious and explore what’s possible out there.
Even with 20 years of experience in marketing. I still spend at least 5 hours a week learning new things about marketing and even more time testing them out in my business, your child-like curiosity should never cease if you are to be a successful entrepreneur.
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2. You lose empathy with your customers.
When my other publishing business was really successful in the past, I felt like I could do no wrong. I thought I had the Midas touch because everything I ‘touched’ literally turned into gold.
Yes, my ego got overinflated without even knowing it. I was ‘too busy’ for customers, and I laughed off my competition thinking I was too good for them.
By the time I was losing revenue and I realised I had made a big mistake by not continuing to cultivate and deepen my relationship with my customers.
I lost touch of their dreams, what excites them and what they really needed. As competition heated up, I lost my USP and market leadership without even being aware of it.
By the time I tried to do something about it…it was too late. Revenues had fallen and what I had to offer was no longer unique. I had to rebrand and revamp the business to create a new business model altogether to make it work again.
3. Your ego makes you unwilling to fail.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, ‘Fail forward fast’ as one of the stratagems for success.
Your ego can stop you from trying new things because of how perceived failure will hurt it. So you will keep doing the same thing that you have been doing before.
I’ve seen people who have built their business successfully through yellow pages, and still are trying to buy bigger ads on yellow pages to get more customers.
I see people who have successfully built businesses via newspaper ads but are unwilling to explore social media marketing. Even though their market has long stopped reading the papers and shifted their media consumption online.
I see people still wanting to get short-term results from their online ads, rather than build their brand and online authority. Simply because they refuse to acknowledge that building that brand and authority is more effective and a cheaper way to get better customers over the long term.
Very often, at the core of this is just plain old ego stopping you from being willing to try new things, because the ego is afraid of getting hurt from ‘failing’.
With your ego in the way, there is no chance your marketing is going to be radical. Without radical marketing, your business will always be an ordinary one with ordinary profits.
I hope through this article I have made you aware of this little evil destroyer of your marketing and business.
Next time, when exploring and evaluating possibilities, ask yourself, “Is this my ego speaking, or my logic?”
I hope this simple question will help you make better business and marketing decisions.
Over to you now! Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences below.
