Marketing Lesson From The Ethiopian Woman Who Tamed The Lion…..
There was once an Ethiopian woman who had marriage issues. Her husband no longer loved her. And he seemed to care little about her happiness.
So the woman took her problem to the village medicine man. She told him her story and asked him to help her prepare a charm that would make her husband love and cherish her the more.
The medicine man was quiet for a while and then asked her.
“Does he maltreat you?”
“No”, she replied. “He just neglects me”.
“Have you misbehaved in any way?” he asked.
The woman protested that she hadn’t done anything wrong. She just couldn’t explain why her husband wouldn’t love her despite her efforts.
The medicine man thought for a few seconds and finally gave her an answer.
“I will help you”, he said. “But you must bring to me three separate hair strands from the mane of a living lion. This I must have before I can make a charm for you.”
The woman reluctantly thanked the medicine man and went home. When she got home, in deep thought, she sat on the sofa of her living room and thought to herself “How shall I do this? Surely it’s impossible. There indeed is a lion that often comes near this village, but it is wild and roars fearfully. How can I even get so close as to get a single hair from it talk more of three separate hair?
After two good days of deep thinking, she came up with a very smart plan…
Rising early in the morning, she took a young lamb and went to where the lion normally strolled around.
She waited patiently and anxiously and finally, the lion came.
Now was the time.
As soon as she sighted the lion from afar, she rose and quickly placed the lamb in the lion’s path, and went home.
And so, every day, she would wake very early in the morning and take a young lamb to the lion.
This went on for 3 weeks, and soon the lion began to look forward to seeing her.
For her coming meant food.
To the lion, she was a kind and attentive woman for she was attentive to his need.
It wasn’t long before the lion began to wag his tail each time he saw the woman.
It began coming close to her and would let her stroke his head and soothe his back.
And each day the woman would sit quietly stroking the lion, gently and lovingly.
Then one day, when she knew the lion had trusted her enough, she plucked the hair strands from his mane and happily set out for the medicine man’s place.
“See!” She exclaimed triumphantly as she entered.
“I have gotten the hairs just like you asked.”, as she made it to give it to him.
“How have you manage to do this clever thing?” He asked in amazement.
So the woman narrated her story.
The medicine man smiled and said to her, “You were able to do this because you were smart and patient.”
With a bigger smile on his face, he said, “You have tamed a lion, now go and tame your husband in the same way.
Now, our focus isn’t on the Ethiopian woman and her marriage issues, our focus is on what she did to tame the lion.
For at least 3 weeks, she went every day to give the lion food to eat…
Even at the expense of her life.
She even went as far as stroking and soothing him when it seemed he had gotten comfortable with her presence.
Our focus here is on her consistency.
The consistency and will to not stop doing what she was doing until she got her goal.
And that’s what most marketers lack… Which always has them seeing the same poor results over and over again.
They show their marketing message to some prospects (especially a cold audience) and when it doesn’t convert, they feel like giving up.
Studies show that before someone buys from you, they must first, trust and like you. When selling to an audience that doesn’t know you, your main aim should be to start a relationship.
Because buying/spending is an investment…
Your prospects/customers have to know they are getting a worthy ROI.
You have to assure them that you’re not there for a quick sale. Not there to just take their hard-earned money.
That you’re there to give them a solution to their problems.
And how do you that?
By staying in their faces all the time with your marketing message.
Sometimes, people have to see your ad about 8 times before they buy from you. Sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on the problem you’re solving for them, how long they’ve had it, etc.
You have to make sure your target audience sees your ad continuously, for a period of time.
And even if they don’t buy from you in that campaign, you’ve already familiarised yourself with them.
How?
When you roll out another campaign, and they see it, if they need/want it, they’ll definitely go for it.
Why?
Because you have already sold seeds of trust in your previous campaign(s).
This is the ‘secret’ behind highly converting marketing campaigns.
The ‘secret’ behind the big brands marketing success.
But then you have to make sure that your marketing message’s headline and offer are what your target audience wants/needs to boost conversions.
There you have it.
The marketing lesson from the Ethiopian woman who tamed the lion.
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