It is known that the power of positive thinking leads to better outcomes.

This dates back to at least 1952 when Norman Vincent Peale published his controversial book “The Power of Positive Thinking”. Controversial at the time because of an unwillingness to disclose sources. More recently, Bloomberg magazine provides current research to highlight the economic impacts of positive thinking in an article by Charles Kenny “How Optimism Strengthens Economies”.

“Over the long period…it appears that happiness and optimism are a driving force behind even stronger economic performance, encouraging risk, experimentation, and hard work, according to a cross-country analysis”

So now there is a ton of proof to back up the theory. It is all good. Let’s all think positive. What’s the problem?

The problem is the fear of the great unknown. This is the debilitating emotion that strangles all that strength in positive thinking. In the business world, much attention has been giving to historically high cash levels sitting on corporate balance sheet along with an increase in share buy-backs, and acquisitions to boost share value. Financial engineering seems to be a safer way to boost share value when you fear the uncertainty of the future.

And so how are you to market your wares in such an environment?

To start with, it is normal to focus broadly on all those who can benefit from your offering. Those who should have the need. Those who should be interested. But then you must be methodical on how you narrow in and focus your best efforts.

It is really about finding ways to latch on to those who are positive thinkers; who want to do something to improve their current situation. And this can only come through your messaging and content. Through a reveal in how you think about things; and a match with how they think about things.

And this is why it is important to have a demand generation mindset when it comes to your marketing strategy. The entire spectrum of your efforts needs to be directed at bringing those prospects forward who are positive thinkers about the situation that they are moving towards. That they aspire to achieve.

Being a positive thinker translates to having a bias for action. It is about having that inherent belief that “there must be a way”. Positive thinkers are more likely to try several solutions in pursuit of achieving the progress towards their desired state.

This is the mindset that brings both an acknowledgement of uncertainty and a tolerance for it. The acceptance that “We will never know for sure, unless we try it.”

So you must craft your messaging and content in your demand generation system to elicit the response that a positive thinker would take. You need to provide insight and information in what it is that you can achieve. And as they move closer to you, their desire to believe grows stronger. Taken with their propensity for action, the demand generation process will produce the qualified prospects that you seek.

Now here is the tough part. Once you have forged some kind of connection, then you must continually put out fresh content to maintain that connection, until that prospect is ready to take action. The reality in the B2B world is that new prospects put up with their existing scenarios for longer periods than is ideal. But you must continue to nurture them, because it will continue to fuel that positive thinking.

The survival of Julie Abrahamsen, a Norwegian snowboarder, in the Canadian Rockies is just an incredible story. It’s not just about survival, it is the mindset of survival that really shines through. The 21-year Norwegian survived three nights on the mountain before being rescued.

Julie Abrahamsen arrived in BC and got her snowboarding pass on Jan 1st. And she used it every single day up to Jan 21st, the day that she went missing. Somehow she had veered off the main snowboarding areas and couldn’t find her way back. As it turns out, she was 8 km out of bounds. When she realized she was lost, she found a mountain-side cave-like structure which provided shelter during the first night. She tried to get her bearings and walked through waist-high snow. Feeling that progress was way too slow, she made her way down to a creek the next day and figured she would wade. But the water depth suddenly increased and she was carried away by the current. She managed to get hold of a tree and pull herself out. She slept soaked that night, and the next, and continued to walk in the deep snow. On the fourth day, after 3 nights, she was spotted by the Search and Rescue team and rescued; still 5 km away, which equates to a 2-day trek on foot through the mountainous terrain.

When she was asked what kept her going, she said: “I didn’t worry too much. I stayed positive. My mom is the most positive person that I know and she served as my inspiration to do what I had to do.” Truly a heroic story.

On the flip side, the skills and technology of the Search-and-Rescue team, which helped narrow the search region is just as important to her survival. Her cell phone had died mid-day on the 21st and the cell phone company provided the last ping to narrow down the region. The resort had a snow-pass tracking technology that identified the last lift that she took up the mountain. And then there is the human element. A pilot on a training exercise spotted foot prints where there should be none on Thursday. That is one full day before she was even reported missing by her roommate. That is incredibly astute. Putting it all together, they were able to find her and save her.

The story can serve as great inspiration in many regards. But I would like to relate it to your demand generation strategy. It is quite possible that your program will likely have to endure its own survival at some point. Julie Abrahamsen had been on that mountain for 21 days in a row. And then she got lost. And she didn’t even realize how lost she was.

Your demand generation strategy may be working fine. Day in and day out. And then one day, you notice that things are off. There may have been some underlying shift in market behavior. Or perhaps your approach has veered off course. Or perhaps a shock to the market. In any case, you are not getting where you need to.

The key is to recognize your situation and stay positive. You can get back to where that demand is being generated. But you are going to have to go through some struggles. Walk through the thick snow. Get swept down river. But you must have the mindset of perseverance, if you are going to survive.

And the reality is that you may not be able to do it alone. You may benefit by outside help that can act as your search and rescue. Someone who is not in the thick of it. Who can take a step back and see the footprints that took you in the wrong direction.

Both the survival and sustainability of your demand generation program are a key part of your business. And you must be prepared to get lost occasionally, and execute in a survival mindset. And that survival will only make you stronger.

Well if you don’t eat it, why should anyone else?

The most effective marketing is when you are able to connect with a group of like-minded individuals. It’s not just a connection, it’s a genuine connection that is rooted in a common experience. And that common experience serves as a testament that you see things the same way as those who you seek to help.

To make that authentic connection, it means that you see things the same way in an expanded sense. You have lived through the same struggles and types of problems that your target audience is experiencing. And you have found a better way to move forward. Your story is far more than “We do this”. It is much more akin to “This is what we live for” and “This is how we have overcome the obstacles.”

The key of course is that you exhibit signs that you are really into “it”. “It” is whatever activities you are putting out marketing messages about. For those messages to be effective, you have to show signs of living through the pain and grind of whatever problem you are solving. And you must bring forward real insights that you have garnered from your experiences.

People want to follow those that have similar pursuits. It just provides an extraordinary learning opportunity. Both from their achievements, and especially form their mistakes and failures. Look around to all the common interest groups or the industry associations, and the evidence is quite strong. People like to gather around a set of common interests and goals.

And to attract prospects, you really do have to demonstrate that you do eat your own cooking. It means that you really do know all the nuances of dealing with the problem that you are solving. You can relate to the trials and tribulations of having struggled with the problem. You bring forward good insights into alternative ways of dealing with the problem. And you have realized gains with the solutions that you espouse.

To win the attention of new prospects, you need to be able to pull back the curtain and say “I did that”. Effective solutions that solve a problem are often derived by working with a lead customer. And sometimes that lead customer is you. There are many examples but I will draw on one of my favorites: the Dyson vacuum cleaner.

As the story goes, James Dyson was doing his part of the housework on a Saturday morning by using the Hoover upright vacuum cleaner. The problem was that it was not sucking up the dirt. So of course he changed the bag and very quickly again discovered that the amount of dirt that was getting sucked up, declined very rapidly. Continually needing to change bags that were not even close to being full was a nonsensical solution. So he came up with the concept of the bag-less vacuum cleaner and brought the product to market. (This part did take him 3 years).

This is where the story gets interesting. Amongst the vacuum cleaner establishment, i.e. the industry players, no one believed in the solution. James Dyson was left to tell his story directly to those that paid attention to how much of the dirt was actually getting sucked up. And within 3 years, the Dyson model was the best-selling vacuum cleaner in the UK. It was selling at twice the price of the next most expensive model, and had no advertising.

James Dyson knew the problem very well. He communicated his understanding of things with those in the retail channel and was effective in having his message echoed by the average retail sales person. Soon enough, the demand for his solution grew by leaps and bounds. Prospects were able to relate exactly to the same set of circumstances that James Dyson had personally experienced. That shared experienced was inextricably connected with the solution that was provided.

Your goal is to have prospects listen to you, follow you, and believe in you. In order to catalyze that process, your prospects need to be able to share in your experiences. It means understanding the passion of why you do what you do. Knowing that you eat your own cooking and why, serves as powerful attractive force.

If you have ever sold your home, you know that one of the key challenges is in picking out a real estate agent to work with. Now, there are no shortages of real estate agents. You could probably pick up the phone and have a bunch of them at your house on the same day. Finding one is not the problem. But determining who or what to believe gets much more challenging, in your decision of who to select.

My first experience in the process was certainly more enlightening than I had expected. As a first timer, I chose to narrow the selection based on a recommendation. I so optimistically listened to the bright and optimistic expectations that were laid out before me. Unfortunately, the reality turned out be something from a completely different storybook. There was absolutely nothing that happened. I barely knew that my home was for sale.

So I moved on to a second recommended agent. And this time, I could not believe what I was hearing. Just a ton of pessimism and negativity. It was as if I was dealing with the evil twin of the first agent. Things had been just too rosy the first time around, and they did not materialize. And now, things were just too despondent, and I expected that they would not materialize.

This is when I threw out this notion that a recommended agent would provide superior results. The scenario felt so much like all those great stock recommendations by a cadre of stock analysts. Not much of what they say ever seems to come true, within the timeframes they predict.

On my third attempt at picking an agent, I decided I was just going to have to make some semi-random picks, roll up my sleeves, and interview the candidates; not just listen to the pitches. Somewhat to my surprise, I was able to dismiss the non-realistic ones fairly quickly. Yet, I spent quite an extensive amount of time with the agent that I finally picked. To cut to the chase, the agent both listed and sold it, all within the listing period.

When it was all done, I had to reflect on why things had unfolded in such an idiosyncratic manner. It got me thinking when the last agent, who had sold the place, happened to mention that his greatest success was with re-listings, as opposed to original listings. It wasn’t really what I was expecting to hear. The guy was so good, that I really expected that he was able to win original listings and re-listings in equal proportion. But that was not the case.

I slowly came to realize that it as all about the messaging that was delivered at the various stages of the process. Or more specifically, the process that I went through as the home owner selling my home. The mindset that I had at the outset was not the mindset that I had once I had some real experience with the whole process. And hence, I might not have even believed what the most skilled and experienced agent would have tried to impart on me. Most likely, his words would not have connected as strongly with me as my initial listing agent. I just would not have been ready to hear it.

And so how does this all relate to establishing a demand generation system for what you have to offer? Well, the same applies to prospective customers of all types. The mindset that they have in the early stages of problem discovery, are likely going to be different than the mindset that they have once they have more knowledge and experience with the problem that they are dealing with.

From a demand generation perspective, it is important that the messaging that you create, fits within the mindset that the prospect is going to have at different stages. It would be premature to disclose everything to the prospect at the start. They simply would not be ready to hear it. But the messaging must grow, just as the mindset of the prospect shifts. It’s not about creating grand illusions with unreal expectations. Rather it’s about providing the right message at each stage of the process.

That is the general tendency in our culture today. Why bother giving it the time and attention if it is working? It could be working forever if no-one tampers with it. We will deal with it when it breaks. When it becomes a real problem. No matter what the state of affairs, people are inclined to ask the question “Is that a problem?” before they give it any further consideration or consider expending any effort at all.

Once upon a time, it was possible to capture attention by using the 2 age-old proven benefits for all businesses, which are:

• This will allow you to make more money
• This will allow you to save time or money

But these two messages just don’t resonate as well at the outset of the demand generation cycle. On the other hand, any kind of suggestion that there is a problem has the ability to capture some attention or curiosity about what the rest of the story is. Any of these phrases cause prospective customers to give it some attention:

• You have a problem.
• There is a problem.
• This is creating a problem.
• There are many hidden problems with this.

Businesses operate by managing their risks. And ignoring problems is not a good risk reduction strategy. It just leads to bigger problems. With regard to seeking attention and developing interest for your solutions, you are nowhere if you can’t relate to a problem that needs to be solved. You absolutely have to be associated with a problem. Because when something becomes a problem, it gets all the attention, all at once. And both the desire and the need to act comes to the forefront.

And so what does it all mean for all your demand generation efforts? Quite simply, you must be an expert on problems that your product offering addresses. And you must communicate the whole story effectively by both identifying the problem and proving your understanding of it.

Problem Identification

Your understanding of the problem was be borne through the eyes of the prospective customer:

• What is the problem?
• Why is it a real problem?
• How much do people care about the problem?

Proving the Problem

Businesses can’t be chasing mythical problems. They need proof. For your demand generation efforts it means constructing stories to prove out your conjectures about the problem.

• How many stories do you have about the problem?
• How many different ways can you tell the story?
• How many different places can you tell the story?
• Who else can echo and validate your story?

If you can effectively focus your communications around identifying and overcoming real problems, desirable things start to happen. Whether the business who had the problem had an awareness of the problem or not, the outcomes for you will be the same.

Prospective customers begin to listen more. Talk more. And you begin to be associated as an entity that is armed and ready to combat the problem. The outcome is that prospective customers will gravitate toward you and initiate a dialogue. You have created demand and you get to play in the game to offer up your solution.