Trigger warning: This story includes graphic sophomoric references to sex and wieners that some people will definitely find offensive. If you do, that’s OK, because you are not Max’s ICP (Ideal Client Profile), and he’s good with that. The key to understanding differentiation and your ICP (Ideal Client Profile) is recognizing what sets your target audience apart.

Staci and I were in Key West recently, doing the tourist thing on Duvall Street. We ended up at Sloppy Joe’s—Hemingway’s old stomping grounds. Since I’ve published one book and I’m working on my second, I figured I should have a drink where a real writer drank.

But this story isn’t about Hemingway.

While I’m sitting there, hoping some literary ghost of writers past would inspire me, I look out the window and just a few feet from me, I spot a hot dog cart. Bright colors. Impossible to miss.

Then I read the messaging.

On the back door: “Please step around front to place your order. NO rear door service! Right island, wrong hotdog cart.”

The name of the cart? Chubbs. Yeah, the phallic innuendo is intentional.

The tagline: “Suns Out Buns Out”

The logo: A naked woman riding a hot dog like a bucking bronco.

At the top of the stand: “My wiener is the original happy meal!”

My inner 12-year-old was chuckling hard (and yes, there could have been some alcohol involved. I mean, we were at Sloppy Joe’s after all!)

The messaging was everywhere. The menu. The owner’s shirt. The tip jar. Even his tow vehicle—a Jeep Renegade he’d painted with house paint to match the cart’s branding.

This guy was committed!

Here’s What Happened Next

I watched people walk down Duvall. They’d see the colors. Pause. Read the messaging.

Some walked away. But most? They smiled. Laughed. Then kept reading and laughing harder.

Then they lined up. Bought hot dogs. Asked the owner to pose for pictures, which he did graciously with a smile. Every. Single. Time.

I guarantee you that if you asked most of them whether they had any intention of buying a hotdog when they started walking down Duvall Street, they would have told you “not a chance.”

I turned to Staci and said, “If this is a franchise, it’s brilliantly executed. But if this guy’s an entrepreneur, he’s a marketing genius.”

I had to know.

I walked outside and asked him: “Is this your cart or a franchise?”

He pointed at himself proudly. He said with an accent that betrayed the fact that English was not his native language, “Mine. Three.” Holding up three fingers with this massive smile.

I said, “You have three of these?”

He nodded with a big smile. Amazing!

“What’s your name?”

“Max.”

“Where are you from?”

“The Ukraine.”

Now, you might not appreciate Max’s humor, but I certainly hope you can appreciate this. Not only is this a great example of marketing and differentiation, it’s an example of someone coming to this country after having had to flee their own, and putting himself all out there as an entrepreneur, living what for me is the truest example of the American Dream. Max pushed all his chips to the center of the table and said “all-in.” These are the people I cheer for every day.

I could only shake his hand and say “Slava Ukraini!” Max grabbed his heart, showing his appreciation.

Here’s Why This Matters to You

How many times have I heard business owners tell me: “Shawn, I can’t differentiate. We all sell the same stuff. It’s all the same services.”

Bullshit.

If a Ukrainian immigrant can differentiate HOT DOGS—literal commodity meat tubes—with branding that makes some of his potential customers walk away, you can differentiate whatever you’re doing.

You don’t need new technology.

You don’t need to invent a new service category.

What you do need a story that resonates with your (ICP) Ideal Client Profile.

That’s it.

Now, don’t run out, buy a gallon of paint and put suggestive sayings on the side of your business location. This isn’t about the risqué humor Max uses. It’s about Max knowing his ICP, his environment, embracing it, and putting it all together in a message that resonates with who he serves.

His ICP: Adults on vacation who are looking to let go, have fun, are walking around the bars, probably with or working on a buzz.

His Environment: A tourist area, on a street known for a bit of debauchery, next to a bar, known for a writer who was known for, among other things, his sexual fluidity.

Max is not selling hotdogs. He is selling laughs and memories. People are paying for a story that they will be telling their friends for years, while showing them pictures of Max’s smiling face.

Max knows exactly who his customer is. He knows who’s going to laugh, buy a hot dog, and take a picture with him. He knows who’s going to be offended and keep walking.

And he’s fine with that.

Because he’s not trying to serve everyone. He’s serving his people, in the place where the story he has created has an emotional attachment. Remember, no matter what you’re selling—hotdogs, computers, consulting services, or houses—people buy based on emotion. They justify the purchase after the fact with logic.

You’ll Know It When You See It

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said he couldn’t define pornography in words, but “I know it when I see it.”

Same with differentiation.

I can’t give you a perfect formula. But when you see someone who’s fully committed to their positioning—even if it’s offensive to a portion of the market—you know it.

Max knows it.

Do you?

If you’re still telling yourself you can’t differentiate, you’re lying to yourself. You just haven’t committed yet.

Stop playing it safe. Figure out who your people are. Then go all-in.

Just like Max did with his wiener.

If you need help with business strategy and differentiation reach out to us here.