Gravity Web Studio

You buy ads. 

Run SEO campaigns. 

Hire marketing agencies. 

Publish content on social media. 

The list goes on. 

Marketing can be exhausting and sometimes leaves you feeling defeated. It's tough. 

Have you ever invested a ton of time and money into a marketing campaign that doesn't generate a single lead? Not fun. 

In those moments of marketing despair, I'm reminded of an important lesson I learned in my early days of entrepreneurship. A time I worked in special event lighting. It's a lesson that has never failed me. If I ever need clients, I go back to this one lesson, and opportunity shows up like magic. 

That lesson is - Pull, don't Push. 

It was the Summer of 2013, which was “slow season” for me. I was having lunch with the owner of a highly sought after branding firm who was working with billion dollar companies and some of the city's top businesses. His name is Adam...and Adam had a line out the door of business owners eager to hire his team for their marketing needs.  

I was one of them. 

Personally, I struggled with marketing. I tried all the strategies I learned in college and those recommended by other marketing "experts"...but it all resulted in less money in my bank account and little to no leads to show for it. 

Seeing the success Adam was having in his business, I had to know what he was doing. 

So I asked him..."How do you market your business?" 

He smiled and said "I don't do any marketing...instead, I focus on building a brand so strong that it pulls in opportunity." Hmm...interesting. You  'pull' in the opportunity. I wanna know more... 

Our conversation from that point forward was all about customer experience and finding unique ways to stand out in the market. No mention of marketing strategy or tactics. 

Based on this chat with Adam, it occurred to me the most important factor in marketing is not in the advertising or means to lead generation  (although those things are important and have their place). But what's most important is how you show up in the market. It's your brand. 

The marketing only works if the brand works. Think of your brand as the magnet and marketing is the location of the magnet. Regardless where you place the magnet, without magnetism it doesn't work. 

To magnetize your brand goes much deeper than a fancy logo and pretty graphics. 

Your unique way of delivering a service or product. That's your brand. 

When a customer calls, how is that customer greeted? That's your brand. 

A customer walks into your office. What do they see, what do they feel, how are you showing up for them? That's your brand. 

When someone is recommending your service, what is said during that exchange? That's your brand. 

Every touch point is a representation of your brand. And how a person feels across those touch points is what defines your brand. 

After my lunch with Adam, I immediately shifted my resources away from pushing a hollow, demagnetized marketing message to building a strong brand that attracts opportunity. This is the path forward. 

After shifting from 'push' to 'pull,' generating leads for my business seemed effortless. My special events company more than doubled in sales for the next 4 years with little to no advertising. 

This concept of 'Pull' stuck with me for years. It's how I operated. 

In 2020, I advised a young branding firm to make adjustments to their sales process using this philosophy of 'pull.' This shift led to a 5X increase  in average transaction value and $75,000 in new business after the first month - almost double their annual revenue at that time. 

Even better, it's a simple concept - often missed by business owners. You might be thinking "I got it, I'll stop being pushy in sales". Yes, that helps.  But creating a real force of Pull requires a total shift in how you show up and the foundation of how you operate. 

Here's a few examples of how this shift looks: 

It's all in how you show up. 

Push is making it about you and transactional. Pull is about them and serving the market.

I hope you found this letter helpful or even inspiring. My lunch with Adam led to a profound change in my business, and it would be a disservice if I didn't share this lesson with you. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Respectfully, 

Jake Anderson 

Founder at Gravity Web Studio