A Marketing Secret From Warren Buffet

The Oracle of Omaha has become famous for many things – he’s worth $39 billion dollars but chooses to live in a humble bungalow in Omaha where his property tax bill is just $13,859. In an industry filled with false promises and hot air, Buffet’s no nonsense approach to living simply has equally been applied to his approach in investing. In studying the businesses that Buffet buys, one of the biggest commonalities shared by over 80% of his investments is the way these businesses have approached their marketing. Given that Buffet is one of the world’s most successful investors, its amazing that more people haven’t delved into the marketing secrets of his investment choices. I have and here’s what I discovered:

Warren Buffet loves investing in companies that involve a high component of trust – either in the way they’ve built their brand, or by building a personal relationship with their customers (as Buffet has with his Berkshire Hathaway stock holders), taking a personality driven approach to their marketing.

In other words, Buffet loves investing in companies that really take care of their customers. He buys trusted companies. Not the kind that just churn and burn through customers – ignoring the ones they have in pursuit of new targets.

Here’s a powerful question for you to ponder in your business: what would your relationship have to look like for your customers to choose to stay with you, for life?

Inevitably a big part of that answer is going to be trust. Its all in how you approach your marketing. Trust is the overlay that has to govern every decision you make in your business, never compromised or sacrificed for any other objective. While such an important topic is worthy of far more than just a brief article – here are 3 top strategies to incorporate trust into your marketing:

1) Keep your promises. Sounds ridiculously obvious but its alarming how few businesses do what they say they will. If you do, your business will stand out immediately. 2) Be prolific with your marketing. Familiarity and regularity builds trust. Create a marketing plan that breaks down your marketing activities into weekly, monthly and quarterly events. Just like clockwork. Don’t take a shotgun approach to your marketing (ie; frantic periods of activity followed by …silence). 3) Use high trust media, not low trust media. It takes absolutely no effort to hit send on an email broadcast that’s sent to thousands. It takes a great deal more effort, thought and commitment to send a direct mail piece that makes the recipient feel like they’re “the only girl in the room.” Traditional media like direct mail STILL out pulls digital advertising for ROI. Don’t abandon it and run the risk of making your business look and sound just the same as everyone else.