Since I knew a company that needed help with a problem like the one he described, I would have liked to refer him. But I couldn't picture myself calling my friend at the company to say, "Hi, I know someone who says he can fix your problem, but he can't explain how. You'll just have to hire him and see."
如果我认识的公司中有需要他提供的服务的话，我可能会告诉他。但是我不禁想象起我打电话给我的朋友说：“你好，有人告诉我说他能解决你的问题，但是他现在不能解释。你要亲自聘用他后才能明白他的方法。”

Being noticeably different from the competition can help you attract customers and close sales. But claiming that you have no competition is naive. Comparisons to a known quantity can help prospective customers understand where your product or service fits in the range of solutions they are considering. If they can't compare it to anything, it's doubtful that they will be able to see how your offering could work.
在竞争中显著的与众不同可以帮你更好地吸引顾客，做成生意。但是如果说你的产品没有竞争者，那就太天真了。同一个知名品牌的比较，才能让潜在客户明白你的产品和服务是如何满足他们的需求的。如果他们不能将你的产品和其他产品做任何比较，他们就很难明白你所提供的服务能逃起到什么样的作用。

Your market, too, needs to be a group of people who already exist and can be readily identified. A reader once wrote to ask me for some advice on getting her new book published. I asked what market category it fell into, and she replied that she hadn't really thought about it.
你的市场要定位于一群已经存在的、确定的群体。曾经有个读者写信询问我关于她新书出版的意见。我问她的市场类别是什么，她回答说自己还没想过。

I pressed her bit, explaining that her book needed to be categorized in order to be marketed and sold. Even something as simple as where to shelve it in a bookstore depended on having a category to print on the back cover. Was it self-help, spirituality, careers, business? Who did she see as the audience for her book?
我向她解释说她的书要要分类才能够销售。最简单的就是放在书店货柜上的书也要根据印在书本底面的目录分类摆放。书所属的类别是自助的，精神类的，事业类的，还是商务类的呢？她将谁定义为目标读者呢？

She asserted that she was creating a new paradigm, and if I was going to help her, I needed to think more creatively. My reply was to tell her I couldn't help her at all. Her idea may have been brilliant, but no publisher was going to touch her project.
她声称自己正在创建一个新的范例，并且说如果我要帮她的话，我的想法应该更有创意一些。我的回答则是我根本帮不了她。她的想法可能很有创意，但是出版商根本不会考虑帮她出书。

Creating the perception that your product or service is one of a kind can help you capture people's attention and make them remember you. But you have to be able to identify the people you want to reach and communicate how you can be of service in words they can understand.
选好广告标语有利于吸引顾客的注意，让他们记住你。但是你必须要明确自己的目标客户，要和他们交流，来确定什么样的广告标语是他们易懂的。

You know those car commercials that go, "Zoom, zoom, zoom?" I had to see those ads dozens of times before I could remember that the car being advertised was a Mazda. "Zoom" was unique alright, but what did it have to do with Mazda? Or with the benefits of owning one? A catchy slogan like "Inspiration Beats Perspiration" may be clever and unusual, but what the heck is it marketing?
有一些众所周知的商业汽车广告标语是"Zoom, zoom, zoom?"，我看了十几次才能记住，这些是马达广告。"Zoom"是够独特，但是这样的标语和马达有什么关系呢？或者与其利益有什么关系呢？而像"Inspiration Beats Perspiration"这样的容易记住的广告标语则更聪明，更独特一些，但是它到底在为什么打广告呢？

Definitely look for a unique way to express the benefits you offer to your clients, but make sure it still communicates what you actually do. It's okay to get creative with your marketing, but don't bet the rent money on untried techniques.
寻找一个独特的标语向客户描叙你的产品能为他们带来什么好处，但是要确保你还是在为自己的产品打广告。在市场营销上有创意是好的，但是不要将贷款花在未经实验的技术上。

If you really want to make your marketing more effective, cheaper and less stressful, stop re-inventing the wheel. Find models that work and replicate them. I'm not suggesting that you plagiarize your competitors' marketing copy, but when you see someone successful in your field, find out what they are doing right, and follow their lead.
如果你确实想让自己的市场营销更有效，更便宜，压力更少，那就停止开发新方法吧。找到一些范例，然后复制。我不是建议你抄袭你的竞争对手的方法，但是如果在你的领域里有人成功了的话，那就去找到他们的正确做法，然后照着他们的方法做。

Don't let your business be a victim of "terminal uniqueness" -- the belief that you are so different from anyone else that none of the rules apply to you. Being distinctive is good; being eccentric can be unwise.
不要让你的事业成为“极端独特”（坚信自己非常特别，没有任何规则适合自己）的受害者。与众不同是好的，但是如果因此而行为古怪那就不明智了。

 

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