A story about keys, locks, and a strange habit of entrepreneurs
(At the bottom of the page — a button for self-check: are you leading your business in the right direction?)
Imagine a marketplace. There are dozens, hundreds of people standing there. Each with a sign:
“Opening Instagram,” “Pouring in leads,” “Setting up funnels,” “Running ads.”
Each of them has a bunch of keys in their hands. And they all shout over each other: “Come to me! My keys are the most universal! I’ll bring you clients right now!”
You come up to one:
— Do you have the key to my business?
He smiles:
— Of course! I have keys to everything!
Sounds good. Maybe too good. But after a week — silence. After a month — wasted budget.
After two months — a growing sense that something is wrong. And here is the thing.
You have your own lock. Every business has its own lock. Its own shape. Its own combination. Its own context. You have a unique product, a unique audience, a unique client decision logic. And the key to this lock can only be cut by the original imprint. Not picked blindly from someone else’s keyring. But the “key masters from the market” don’t know what kind of lock you have. They only know one thing: to stick keys into the slot and see if it turns.
And you expect a miracle from them. You think they are masters. But they are just people who know where the door is for a similar type of key.
Why it works for a bakery — but not for your service
If you are a bakery, a pharmacy, or a tire shop, you cover basic, physiological needs. People will find you. They will come to you. Put up a banner, get on Google Maps — and the flow will start. That’s the case when keys are similar.
But even there, if there are three others nearby — you have to stand out.
But if you provide a service: psychological, educational, B2B, consulting, design, non-standard — then everything changes.
Here universal keys do not work. Here you need fine tuning.
90% of the work is on you.
And here is the most unpopular truth: you must create your own key. Not just find out what it is — but actually form it. Understand who your client is, what their need is, how they choose, and what you offer to make it work.
And those you usually go to — they are not marketers in the true sense. They are traffic specialists, funnel specialists, ad specialists, launch specialists. They just stand with their signs in the marketplace and say:
“We have access to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google — come, we’ll get people for you!”
And what happens?
You bring them “something,” and they try to match it to a suitable door. In the best case — they find a lock where your key kind of fits. But it does not turn. Or it jams. Or it opens the wrong room.
Why? Because:
The key is made by you.
The lock is your product and your client.
And they just insert keys. They do not design locks. And they do not cut keys.
You must understand the essence of your offer; determine who needs it; and only then go to a specialist who knows how and where to insert it.
⚠️ They will not stand in your place in business.
⚠️ They will not think for you.
⚠️ They do not know what is inside your business.
But... they pretend they understand. And that is the main trick. You believe they will help you. But in reality — they just “push a button” for you.
As a result: the budget goes away, there is no effect, and disappointment grows.
Not because you are a “bad entrepreneur.” But because you handed over the main part of your responsibility — to those who can only influence 5% of the result.
Who can build a system?
If you are a big company — you can hire analysts, copywriters, strategists. Together with you, they will assemble the lock and cut the key.
If you are a small business — you will have to go through this path yourself.
It is not difficult, but it will take some of your time:
- What is the essence of your product?
- What need does it meet?
- Who is your person?
- Where are they?
- How do they choose?
- What will hook them?
“Here is my key. Insert it in the right door.”
That is exactly what the table is about. This is not a template. This is a navigator to help you understand your business. So you stop looking for a magic key. It helps you see:
- how your business relates to Maslow’s levels of needs;
- in what sequence the 7P system is built (product, price, place, process, people, presentation, advertising);
- advertising is the last, not the first;
- the product is the base, not the banner or landing page.
Setting up ads, loading creatives, choosing targeting — today it’s all done intuitively, without magic. Any platform guides you step by step: Facebook, Google, Instagram — it is all simple if you know what you are doing and why.
And then you see the main point: you do not need an external button pusher at all. You understand better than any contractor: what your product is, who your client is, what message to send them.
That means — you are the marketer you were looking for all this time.
But if you do not learn and do not understand how the 7P system works specifically for your business topic, then you will keep paying for illusions, blaming contractors, and staying in the same place where you are now.
There is no other way. Either you take responsibility and build the system, or you keep hoping that someone else will do it for you.