I’ve written before about the “Find Yourself Here” template for creating marketing pieces…
And recently I’ve seen a couple examples, that I think are particularly good and interesting.
First, a quick reminder/crash course on what this is and how to use it. Then, the examples and what I like about them.
What is “Find Yourself Here” and why should you use it in your marketing as often as possible?
This is a concept I picked up from Dan Kennedy in late 2009. I remember distinctly because it was my very first AWAI copywriting Bootcamp, and I actually got to speak immediately before him on Friday morning. (Mine was 15 minutes, his was 2 1/2 hours, but who’s counting?!)
One of the things Dan talked about in that presentation was how many templates and shortcuts he uses to write copy quickly.
When he sits down to write copy, he looks at the 15 or 20 copy mechanisms that he has, and he picks from that list what will be the most appropriate for the project. Then he arranges them however he feels is appropriate, and has the skeleton of a promotion to write off of that.
One that he showed us an example of was a little booklet for an eyeglass company. On the front cover of the booklet was a headline something like, “Who chooses XYZ Eyeglass Company?” Then as you flipped through the book, each spread represented a different kind of customer. Retirees. Office workers. Physical laborers. Crafters. Parents. And so on, and so on. Each page featuring a representative picture, with a description about WHY they’d choose this company over the other options available to them. Catered to who they are, and their unique eyeglass needs.
This booklet covered the company’s core buyer groups. Probably 80% of their customer base. And no matter who you were, if you found yourself in the book, you felt welcome.
One of the major objections of any selling situation is “Will this work for someone like me?” Having this reassurance just makes that much easier to say yes.
This applies in nearly every selling situation. It’s pretty much universal. There are a handful of core groups of buyers who use your product or service in their own unique ways. Maybe 80% of the use scenarios overlap. But the 20% that is unique to their own use case will drive the buying decision. Convince them that they deliver on that, and you’re in.
That’s why I’m always on the lookout for good examples of “Find Yourself Here.”
Example #1: Trello Inspiration Boards…
Click here for the Trello “Inspiration” page as an example of how to use Trello.
Trello is a project management tool, I guess. But it’s really so much more than that. You can think of it as an external brain.
It contains a ton of features for planning and collaboration, so it is really effective as a project management tool.
But, it also functions a lot like a cork board in your office. A cork board that you can put a bunch of note cards on, to track things. And then move the cards around between different columns. But really, each card is digital. So it can contain all sorts of things. Like checklists, attachments, due dates, and conversations between members. And you can have a virtually unlimited number of these boards, for whatever you need to use them for. And they can be shared across a team, or used personally, or published publicly.
I’ve been using Trello to implement the Getting Things Done methodology. In fact, I’ve moved pretty much my entire business planning and productivity approach into Trello. And it’s helping me to get a ton done, and manage my multiple projects and priorities (including catching up on things that were falling through the cracks).
But the deeper I dive into Trello, the more possibilities I see, and the more examples I see of other people using it in completely different and interesting ways!
Which is how I landed on the Trello Inspiration page.
The headline of the page is “There are a million ways to use Trello.”
It’s a curated collection of I-don’t-know-how-many examples of Trello in use. All tagged. All searchable. With either notes or complete blog posts about how the example board is used. Plus a link directly to the example that you can explore.
So let’s say, for example, that I want to use Trello as a sales tool. I can scroll to the bottom of the Inspiration page, click “Sales” in the tag cloud, and it loads up all the examples that are tagged as Sales.
The first that comes up shows how to use Trello as a CRM pipeline. Another, a collection of Sales Team Resources, contained conveniently in a single Trello board. Or how about a Sales and Legal Contracts Pipeline, for those situations where there’s an extra step of contract approval beyond sales?
Backing out, let’s say I want to plan a conference or event, and I’m wondering how others have done it through Trello. Again, I go to the tag cloud, click “Event Planning,” and in this case I see one example board. This one looks like it’s been built by a pretty experienced event planner, managing multiple venues (entertainment versus event itself) for a multi-speaker event, with sponsors, external service providers, and more. I have their entire thought process around the entire event, presented in a single Trello board.
Even if you’re NOT using Trello, there could be some really good resources in here!
Plus, just looking at it as an example of “Find Yourself Here” may give you some examples about how to apply this.
Here’s the link again to the Trello Inspiration page.
Click here to try Trello’s free plan (currently all I use).
Example #2: 12 Examples of Product Websites Built with Divi…
I’ve used the premium Divi theme on Breakthrough Marketing Secrets for a couple years now, since my last redesign.
I totally under-use it, but it’s a really cool modern theme that’s well-maintained by Elegant Themes, the company who offers it.
One of the nice things about it is that it is very adaptable. It can be very visual, if you’re selling something that lends itself to that. Or, it can be very content/text-focused, if you’re doing something like I, such as regularly publishing articles.
The tools in Divi take a lot of the tech out of building your website, so you can just focus on creating what you want.
I’d already snagged the link to the Trello Inspiration board and was planning to write this article for you, when I saw an article from Elegant Themes come across my desk.
12 Examples of Product Websites Built with Divi.
This is a total “Find Yourself Here” article. It includes everything from a longer-form sales page for a Paleo cookbook, sold through Clickbank… To a really funky custom-built 3-wheel cruiser car, that you actually purchase through dealers from LA to Dubai (or pay a $1,000 deposit online to customize your own).
While I don’t think it’s complete on its own — that is, it doesn’t show other use cases for Divi beyond selling products — it is really great for anyone who is considering selling products online.
And if you put yourself in the shoes of someone who is researching Divi as a possible WordPress template for selling your physical product online, and you land on that page, you’re going to get excited.
The takeaway…
If we zoom all the way out to the level of principles and strategy, you need to be able to overcome the core objections that stand in the way of making the sale.
Every prospect thinks, “Will this work for someone like me?” on the way to “Will it work for me?”
“Find Yourself Here” is an effective marketing tool to break through those objections and make the sale, to the right customers for your offering.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
