Here's a picture of a Swiss army knife.
Now if you want to eavesdrop on what's written there, you can get yourself a magnifying glass or enlarge the screen size so you'll not miss a thing.
The core idea on that page?
About not having your business be a samey samey derivative, an undistinguishable commodity, a mee too, mee too... in a world filled with mee too derivatives.
And instead, to thrive for being the difference, the unusual, the unorthodox, the unfancied, the not normal.
Enter, Swiss army knife unorthodoxy.
How so?
Well, first, let's just take a look at what kind of tools are available at your disposal, all packed into one handy little palm filler.
And when you open this little pocket miracle up, you'll find the following:
a knife
a smaller knife
a screw driver
a file
a scissor
a cork screw
a saw
a magnifying glass
a bottle opener
It's quite nifty a little problem solver, isn't it!
So how can one use that to create irresistible, topical, inventive, creative, energising and enthusiastic copy and communications for your products and services?
The way you do that is use the Swiss Army knife as a metaphorical tool.
And the way you use it is to ask questions about your product or service:
The clearest question you could probably ask is --
How many different ways or angles could I use to speak about my product or service?
Or to if you want to zero in and focus the mind even more on that, ask this question -- what are the dozen different ways I can speak about my product or service, using the Swiss Army Knife tool as a working metaphor?
Now we're cooking.
Because instead of having the mind spin off on various loopy tangents whilst it's trying to find some new fresh angle to sell your products or services...
You'll now have a framework to guide you.
But how exactly would that Swiss Army knife work as a framework to help you come up with fresh ideas or angles?
Just as the Sak has multiple tools emanating from its centre, your centre (product or service) is also wrapped in multiple tools.
Here are some of yours:
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
Which
Now you might be thinking those aren't very unique or entertaining.
But of course, the value and power comes from how and n what context you ask the questions.
Let's test this out so you can practically see how everything we've talked about so far, all ties up together.
Let's pick a product or service.
Let's go with a physical product.
You can then use the same framework I'll outline below to help assist you selling whatever it is you sell and promote.
I'm sitting at my dining table and looking at the various items that are 2 metres away from me.
I'll list a few of them:
iphone
headphones
trolley
fudge cylinder box
pen
coffee mug
piano
dog basket
chair
photo frame
Okay, so here's the not so scientific test to see what product out of the above gets chosen.
I'm going to get all the items on a page in front of me. I'm going to close my eyes and I'm going to prod the laptop screen (gently, of course!) and then see what product name my finger lands on.
Here we go.
And the prodding finger lands on --
Fudge Cylinder Box!
(Okay, so a little side note to the ultimate selection. I closed eyes, prodded screen, and opened eyes.. five times in succession. Why would I do that? Because I wanted to ensure that I land on the nominated product, twice, and not just once. Why? Because I wanted to make sure that all items had a shot, and not be eliminated at the first time of prodding.)
So now we have this luxury fudge in a cylindrical box to apply our Swiss Army knife technique to.
But before that, what typically are the ideas and angles to sell something like this?
Delicious creamy/luxurious taste? Yep
Uniquely packed and packaged? Yep
Customers love us? Yep
Anything else?
I don't think so. at least, nothing unusual, novel or different comes to mind.
Okay so let's pull out our toolbox of Swiss Army Knife, goodies and see what we can create here:
As a reminder, here's that list again:
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
Which
So let's take the first tool:
Who?
So what kind of questions (angles and ideas) can we create around the 'who', as it relates to this cylindrical box of luxury, clotted cream fudge?
Who are the kinds of people who buy this product? An idea could be a to list them out. Maybe even create a series of mini promos or ads around one kind of person, and then the next kind, and so on.
Who are the people making this product? What life tidbit could be shared with potential readers of the ads, promos, etc.
Who buys as a recurring purchase each month? What kind of joy and adventure is happening at these people's homes, and how does the fudge fit in by way of who eats the most, etc.
Who are the fudgelings in the box? Why not create a series of communications coming from the fudge pieces themselves. Fudgelings. Remember where you heard that first!
Now you can keep going with the who, and you'll probably come up with a few more novel and creative idea angles for your ads, emails, promotions, sales events.
Then...
Once you've finished that, you can move on to the next 'tool' on the list. The What.
Keep on doing that for the rest of the list and lo and behold, at the end of the exercise you'll have 50, 60, 70 to a 100 selling ideas and angles that you wouldn't have thought about before.
Do you think by employing those ideas and angles to YOUR promotions and communications, for YOUR products and services, that you'll be seen as a mee too derivative commodity in your marketplace?
Not on your life will you and your products be seen as a mee too commodity.
And in fact, why not we take this angle and creative idea generation a little further, so you can see you'll definitely NOT be bracketed in the same category as any else selling or promoting the same or similar products or services like you do.
Do you remember the Swiss Army Knife tools I listed out for you on that actual Swiss Army Knife? (zoom up to the top of this post to see the pic or refer to the list that I'm er, listing out for you below):
a knife
a smaller knife
a screw driver
a file
a scissor
a cork screw
a saw
a magnifying glass
a bottle opener
Okay, so now you've got the list in front of you, how about we actually use the same list above to carve out even more ideas and angles to sell that cylindrical tube of luxurious clotted cream fudge. (And of course, apply this all to what it is you sell and promote)
So the first one the list was...
a knife.
Ideas and angles.
Our fudge is cut and carved out by the finest knives available.
Our fudge is definitely a cut above the rest.
We're carving out a box of luxury delivered right to your doorstep, and we can't wait to send it to you.
See how that all works?
Let's try out the 3rd tool on the Swiss Army knife (the 2nd tool on the list was a small knife so we'll just bypass that and move on to the next one on the list)
A screwdriver
Ideas and angles.
It takes 45 wood screws and a proper good screwdriver to box up our weighty box of pre-packaged fudge that'll last you upto 3 to 4 months of luxurious indulgence
You're going to need a tamper proof box, a screwdriver and a handful of screws to hide the luxury mini hamper of clotted cream fudge away from everyone else who'll be drooling for one or more of YOUR luxury fudge's!
a file / rasp (A rasp is a coarse form of file used for coarsely shaping wood or other material.)
Ideas and angles.
Luxury Fudge - No File included. If you'd like to 'powder down' your luxury fudge into the finest luxury particles that you can, then ask us about our special LFF (luxury fudge file) and we'll have one sent over to you with our compliments.
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The idea here is to let your creative mind flow and express itself, without you editing or censoring anything that raises itself as an idea in your mind.
As you can probably see, by carrying our this Swiss Army Knife exercise for your products and services, you'll stand proud and alone.
You'll have ZERO competition for what it is you sell because your uniqueness and your originality in your ideas and your communications and campaigns, will be too clear and obvious for all to see that you are no derivative and no commodity.
Swiss Army Knife.
Use it.
It'll come to your rescue over and over again, both in your marketing and business... and... in your personal relationships.
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