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"Mommy, look, I'm almost as high as your shoulders. I can't wait until I'm really tall."
"Mommy, I think I'm going to be even taller than Totty (Daddy)."
I was starting to get a little worried. Why this obsession with being tall?
I'm short (like, under 5 feet short) and my husband is not very tall either. The odds of him growing to be 6 feet are quite low.
And besides, I don't want him to be so focused on his externals.
I kept telling him, "There are so many special and even famous people who were really short." But nothing swayed him. He said, "I still want to be tall."
He answered, "I want to be able to help Bubby (grandma) take things down from high shelves, just like Uncle David does."
I was floored.
Here I was, assuming that HIS desire to be tall stemmed from the same value I placed on height - a physical value, a desire to be the biggest in the room.
But in reality, he wanted something completely different.
They assume they know why customers like them. That they understand why a certain product or service is popular.
Then they create marketing materials based on these assumptions. And when the marketing falls utterly flat, they’re left scratching their heads in confusion.
But the reason for these failures is very simple - businesses forget the one most important thing that must come before creating any marketing materials:
Never make assumptions about your customers.
Toss all preconceived notions. Then go out there and see what your customers are actually saying.
You may discover surprising things. They might care about things you really don’t care about. That’s why it’s super important to keep an open mind and listen to what they’re saying, not what you thought was true.