Is My Marketing Working?: A Simple Exercise to Find Out.

Most businesses in Canberra can explain what they sell in one sentence. Very few can explain who they are without mentioning the product at all.

That gap is where most visibility problems start. When people cannot describe you beyond “they do great coffee” or “they build websites”, you are forgettable the second a cheaper competitor appears.

Instead of asking “Do people know what we sell?”, start asking “Could my best customer describe our personality to a friend”.

What would they say about what it feels like to work with you. How would they explain what you care about when no one is watching. If the answer is vague, your story is vague.

A quietly powerful exercise is this:

 Ask three existing customers to 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀. No prompts. No “quality” or “reliable” allowed. 𝗜𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮. It tells you the story has not landed deeply enough to be repeatable. From there, pick one small proof moment and turn it into a pillar. Maybe it is the way your chef walks plates to regulars instead of sending wait staff. Maybe it is the extra ten minutes you spend after a service call walking a client through “what changed and why”.

These details are your brand. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿. Your website and socials should read like you already know what people say about you when you are not in the room.

If you can build a story that matches that conversation, you stop competing on features and start competing on feeling. That is where loyalty lives.