Jobseekers, including myself, have endured endless debates about the pros and cons of LinkedIn’s “Open to Work” green banner. While these debates seem to have died down, there are still arguments about whether the green banner does more harm than good.
The good? Legitimate employers know that you are open to work.
The harm? Scammers, AI-powered resume writers, and other ne’er-do-wells also know that you are open to work.
Customers won’t find you unless you buy this shady service
But this is not confined to jobseekers.
Bredemarket receives an uncounted number of telephone calls, from multiple numbers, all of which begin with the same question: “Am I speaking to the business owner?”
The caller then offers a free consultation regarding your Google Business listing and your Google voice search results.
And when I bother to take the calls, they are disappointed to hear that Google yanked my Google Business listing (Google never told me why, but I assume it relates to the fact that I do not physically conduct business at my UPS Store mailing address).
And that it was the best thing for me when Google did that.
You don’t walk up to my office and request a retainer or hourly services or small projects. You contact me by various means and we talk, you in your office and me in mine. Even the local customers aren’t going to drop by, especially since my City of Ontario business license prohibits me from meeting customers at my home.
Anyway, all these cold callers are NOT part of Bredemarket’s target audience.
And the myriad of Google Business Listing advisors are just one of the types of people who have no interest in buying my services.
How to attract real prospects
So I create Bredemarket’s content to attract identity, biometric, and technology marketing professionals. Two recent examples:
A statement of fact: with one exception, Bredemarket’s work is targeted to American audiences.
Which means the content I am publishing and linking to today is going to strike non-Americans as a little odd.
Why?
It’s complicated.
It’s complicated.
Because even though International Workingmen’s Day was celebrated throughout the world on May 1, 1890, the celebration has mostly died out here, except for its adoption by immigrant groups.
Do you remember ViVi Contras Belleville Brown 429, the long-winded scammer who contacted me at length about a position at “the intersection of Global Supply Chain and Systemic Accountability”?
Well, I guess I’m not the only candidate she targeted. I just received an email that read, in part, as follows. (I’m hiding the identity of the emailer to spare them from other scammers.)
“I received a very similar ‘contact’ from Vivi Brown trying to solicit my employment interest in the same AI/Energy Structure start-up. Oddest ‘interview’ procedure I have ever seen. No concrete job descriptions, organization structures, identification of Founders, etc. All communications mandated on WhatsApp (encrypted). Very verbose ‘corporate speak’ exchanges. When I asked if this was AI, they obviously denied that it was. Answers to background questions don’t necessarily add up. Company startup name given to me was “ARCLight’, and their interest in me reportedly ties to my mgt experience in Energy Structure Development. Numerous pictures (AI driven ?) of the young Vivi Brown have been forwarded with ‘feel good’ influence peddling formats, mixed in ‘business’ answers to my structure comments/questions. It looks like the AI derived Vivi was created as an Influencer on EezyCollab (“catfishing”?).”
I never encountered the WhatsApp red flag since I applied my KYB Fraud Failure flag early on, but I’m not surprised.
As for EezyCollab (which was NOT part of the scam, but may have been used by the scammer), it “connects AI products with the right creators across global markets — powered by an AI platform of 100M+ creators, direct pricing, and end-to-end delivery.” Plus its founder Yiki Chen is a marketer and vibe coder who has been vibe coding since 2021. Groovy.
Returning to Vivi, I found the website https://www.shvivi.com/#home for A.R.C (sic) Insight. (Not ARCLight.) It includes insights such as the following:
“Vivi Brown’s profile was not built through display. It was formed through consistency, disciplined judgment, and the gradual development of capability — producing a rare combination of written clarity, operational steadiness, and long-range strategic calm.”
You know that the video I shared earlier begged to be expanded into a television show. And that for the proper setting, the show itself would market products in a way that is illegal today; yes, the show would be sponsored by Marlboro.
Google Gemini.
So without further ado…
“Product Marketer For Hire,” Sunday at 9pm: “The Stranger”
The introduction to the television show “Product Marketer For Hire.”
(Sharp-eyed Inland Empire residents will notice that this depiction is entirely fictional, since the real “Main Street,” officially known as Euclid Avenue, is much wider and less dusty than the street depicted here. Allow me artistic license.)
As the Ontario townsfolk were gathered on the street in late afternoon, a mysterious stranger rode into town. He was a most unusual man. For one, he was smiling, unlike the other strangers that have come before him. For another, his brown/tan/black official western wear issue (Montgomery Ward catalog, pages 333-334) was rudely interrupted by a blue patch with a “B” on it. There was something else odd about him, but no one spoke of it.
The mysterious stranger rode up to the saloon, dismounted his horse, and walked in.
Scene 2: The Saloon, Ontario
The mysterious stranger slowly walked to the bar and took a seat as the bartender eyed him warily.
(Hey, Inland Empire residents, I got that one right.)
As he sipped his drink, the stranger couldn’t help but notice the older man in a gray jacket staring at him. As everyone in the saloon quietly watched, the older man slowly walked toward the stranger.
“Sir,” said the older man.
“Yes?” asked the stranger.
The older man gestured toward the stranger’s belt. “Those aren’t guns you have in those holsters.”
The stranger paused. “No, they’re not.”
“In fact,” the older man scoffed, “they look like pencils.”
The stranger nodded. “Yes they are.”
The older man’s face betrayed the slightest smirk. “Why” – he paused – “would a man carry PENCILS in his holster?”
As the older man and the others in the saloon broke out into grins, the stranger eyed them all with a serious expression. He paused before responding.
In a loud voice the stranger replied. “Business.”
Everyone looked puzzled at that unexpected response.
After a long pause, the older man turned back to the stranger. “Sir,” he asked, “exactly what kind of BUSINESS are you in?”
Bredemarket has consistently argued AGAINST “me too” product marketing, and FORdifferentiating your identity/biometric product from its competitors. But your differentiators must resonate with your prospects.
This post lists three false differentiators, and why you should avoid them.
False differentiator 1: we’re a great place to work
Does your company description place undue emphasis on the shiny happy people who work for you? Their competitive salaries? Their unlimited PTO? Their community days? Their “best place to work” awards?
Who cares?
While you would think happy employees are important to prospects, they really aren’t. Enron was a best company to work for, but definitely did not deliver for its customers. Other companies are slave drivers, but customers love their products.
Save the “best place to work” mumbo jumbo for your careers page, not your prospect-facing content.
False differentiator 2: we’re a unicorn
Other companies take a different tack. Some emphasize their financial might: they’re a unicorn, a Series C, a NASDAQ-listed firm. Others take the opposite tack, asserting they are small and scrappy. (Bredemarket is in the latter category.)
So what?
Your prospects don’t care how big you are. Size doesn’t matter to them. Your performance does.
Stick the “unicorn” talk in your investor pitch decks, not on stuff your prospects read.
False differentiator 3: we have great features
By now you’ve probably figured out that your customers care about your product, not your employee satisfaction or your valuation. So you start talking about your product and its impressive array of features. 1000 ppi fingerprint capture. Sub-second matching. Integration with over 100 third-party systems.
How so?
Prospects don’t care about your product and what it does. They care about what it does FOR THEM. Does it solve crimes and keep bad people off the streets? Does it ensure that bank account applicants really are who they say they are? Does it complete its checks quickly before e-commerce buyers abandon their shopping carts?
Talk benefits, not features. Save the feature lists for your sprints.
How do you isolate true differentiators?
Your prospects need to see why your product is great for them, and why competitor products are terrible for them. How your product achieves their objectives: get stuff done, make money.
So what are the differentiators and benefits of your product?
Bredemarket can help your identity/biometric firm with the strategy and tactics of marketing your product. My services and process help you position your product for your prospects.
Bredemarket: Services, Process, and Pricing.
Do you want to learn more? Go to https://bredemarket.com/mark/ and schedule a free meeting with me to learn how Bredemarket can benefit you, so you can fulfill the needs of your prospects.
Jan McInnis sells a service, comedy. And how do comedians market their services? By performing. The comedian performs at one venue, and someone from another venue sees them and books them.
Google Gemini.
McInnis was performing in Michigan when she was spotted by a big-time manager (“one of her clients is currently selling out Madison Square Garden”) who saw Jan’s five-minute set. Afterwards the manager approached Jan and said the magic words:
“You were great.”
Then the manager’s office called and requested a meeting, asking McInnis to bring writing samples. Now a meeting itself is no assurance of getting a job, but it’s a possible step toward getting one. So Jan prepared for that meeting, spending her Thanksgiving polishing up her writing samples.
Google Gemini.
But…
“The next day, her office called to postpone the meeting.”
Lather, rinse, repeat. The manager’s office would schedule a meeting, then postpone it. In the end, the manager never met with McInnis, who pivoted away from the comedy clubs and focused on corporate speaking engagements as “The Work Lady.”
And who knows? Maybe some huge tech company will ask her to headlines a gigantic corporate event at Madison Square Garden.
Bredemarket 