There’s a common scenario played out over and over again in effective marketing and advertising campaigns, and it’s a neat little trick to have in your marketing arsenal.

The trick is to position yourself as the underdog against the big bad wolf. Great copywriters have been using this trick for a long time, now it’s your turn.

The big bad wolf is the enemy of your industry and pitting yourself against the bad guys can be extremely effective in making your case.

Here are a few examples off the top of my head.

Good guys are on the left – bad guys are on the right.

Niagara-On-The-Lake (small, quant, quiet village ) versus Niagara Falls. (loud, noisy, and touristy)

The small tax preparer versus the IRS or CRA. (Canada Revenue Agency)

The local restaurant (local food, local ingredients) versus the local fast food restaurant (processed crap).

Your own business versus working for the “Man.”

The possibilities to using this strategy are endless…

Step up to the plate for your customers. And, if you’re stepping up, don’t be afraid to let them know it. If you have our backs, against the big bad wolf, we’ll have yours.

It’s surprising how many businesses are still missing the boat when it comes to the “new” internet and using social media as a marketing tool.

I’m going to break it down real easy here.

It’s all about the human connections you make. No longer does the one-way flow of information jive with any of your customers.

Sure, there are the odd folks that might simply want to see your menu, find out your hours of operation, check out what your rooms look like, or how much you charge for an oil change.

But the real secret is the human connection.

Remember the early days of the internet and all the uses for the word “link?”

Linking meant that I would put a link to your blog from my blog or website for whatever reason. You might pay me for the link, or I might like your content and want to spread the word. Then we started doing “reciprocal linking.” Which meant I’d give you a link, if you gave me a link.

Now, the name of the game is the human link.

The businesses who are getting it, are using the human link to create a person-to-person connection. It’s no longer about the brand saying, “this is what we’ve got, come buy our stuff.”  Instead, it’s about the brand, corporation, or small business, that’s making an outreach on a personal level.

If your business is struggling, and you’re looking for marketing solutions to solve your problems, stop looking.  The solution is simple. Start creating real human connections.

I read a great post once and, unfortunately I can’t remember where now, but the marketer was asked by a client what she should do with only $2 left in her business account. She couldn’t afford to place an ad in the newspaper, or send out mail, or create a radio advertisement.

The marketer’s answer was brilliant.

Take a new customer out for a piece of pie. Yup, that was it.

The real solution is to start with an honest, true, and single human connection and build from there. Everything else is just pie in the sky.

Who doesn’t love a campfire? NOTHING beats a perfectly roasted marshmallow.

Of course, there’s one thing that can make or break a great campfire.

The ghost story.

I grew up going to camp every Summer and each night we’d have a campfire. Sadly, I don’t remember each individual marshmallow, but I do remember the times I jumped four feet out of my seat. And I do remember the shrieks and shrills of those around me. And I do remember the clever use of your flashlight and the shadows cast upon your face. And I do remember talking about the story for hours afterwards with my cabin mates.

But if the story is no good, or it’s boring, or you try to pull a fast one on us, then people will start yawning, and people will leave, and the kids will go to bed. We won’t remember a thing. And eventually the fire will burn out.

The thing is, we want a great story. We want to be inching ‘just a bit closer’ to the girl (or guy) sitting next to us. We’re hanging on to your every word. We’re depending on you for a good unexpected twist at the end.

And without it, it’s just ‘another campfire. There’s another one somewhere else.

Your business is like the campfire. Tell me a good story.

When someone asks if you’re on the same page as they are, you might very well think you are. But, it’s important to remember that my page is different from your page. Your page is different from your boss’s page. Your spouse’s page is also different from your page. Your idea of your customer’s page is different from their actual page.

Sometimes we want to believe we’re all on the same page, and we’ve got a similar understanding of things. The thing is, every page is a bit different.

And every page is written by a unique set of eyes. Each set of eyes writes their own page based on their own unique perception of reality.

When I tell you that the chicken crossed the road, your chicken and your road, are different from my chicken and my road. This is what James Newman referred to as your personal and unique “reality structure.”

Of course, different strokes for different folks. While every single person sees the world a bit differently, in what we’re referring to as reality structure, different groups of people can share similar worldviews.

As Seth Godin says, “Some people hear a politician say something and hate it, while others are thrilled by it. Is it the thing that was said or the person who said it? Some people hear that Apple is about to launch a new product and they get out their wallets; others flee–before they even know what it is. If you don’t understand the worldview of the people you’re selling to, you will fail.”

And this, my friends, is the point of all marketing. Don’t wave your hands like a crazy person trying to get everyone under the sun to pay attention. The easiest, and most reliable, route is to speak to people who share the same worldviews. That’s the first key.

Have you ever heard someone in business ask someone, “Who’s your target market?” and the person responds, “Everyone and anyone.”

Wrong. Not everyone will love bacon flavored ice cream. Your target market is only to those where your product or service speaks to their specific worldviews. That’s the second key.

The third key, in my opinion, is the most important. It’s realizing that success will come a helluva lot easier when you start ignoring the wrong people and focusing on the right people. This is the hard part. You may need to piss a few people off along the way. The trade-off is that if you do it right, those who share the same worldviews will never let you down.

And if you want proof of this, look no further than Apple. The iPhone 4 has been a total bust. It’s riddled with problems. The antenna is messed up. It’s dropping calls left and right. Consumer Reports gave it two big thumbs down.

Now go try to find one in stock.

P.S. Here’s the kicker though. Apple has no choice but to make this right. Our reality structures are nearly impossible to change, but our worldviews can be shifted more readily.

Again, if you need proof of this, look no further than Apple (again). Consider all the people you know who said they’d never own a MacBook, or an iPod, or an iPhone, or an iMac…..They once belonged to the group who shared a similar worldview of Microsoft, and that worldview changed.