A friend of mine that worked radio and even a little television, but now owns a very successful Internet marketing business, once confided in me, "The trouble with business marketing is there's just too much of it!"
Oh, how true it is. The reason we all have to work so hard at our marketing is the fact that all of our competitors are working hard at theirs.
If you want to be heard, you must speak up! But exactly how you do that depends upon your business, your skill, and your customers. Let me explain.
Typical mass marketing where fast food restaurants, brewing companies, and auto sellers spend their gargantuan media budgets, is a continuous barrage of one ad message after another, each one intentionally shouted louder than the first in hopes of catching our attention.
Sometimes we do pay attention, especially when the ad is particularly clever or funny, or we have a personal need for the product being touted. But for the most part, advertising goes in one ear and out the other.
Car companies know that only a small percentage of the population is looking to buy a new car in any given week. But they have found it cost effective to continuously blast their message in hopes of attracting those few ready buyers because when they do make a sale, it pays handsomely.
The small business, especially the solo Internet business, can't play this same "broadcast your message loudly" game that these big players indulge in. They don't have the resources and it wouldn't work well anyway.
Small business marketing needs to be extremely focused and targeted and very benefit laden. On the Internet, customers have almost complete control of the marketing messages they choose to listen to.
They can empty their email inbox in the flick of a mouse button. Or they can surf to the next web site in less than a second.
Internet marketing needs to be customer centered. Your message must hit your prospect right were it counts - that is, right where his gut tells him this is a product or service that I can benefit from.
Blasting a message that interrupts web viewers from what they're doing is called spam and everyone that I know hates it.
If I knew your company was spamming me, I would never ever buy one of your products, even if it were exactly what I was looking for.
Rather than shouting a message (as the car companies and breweries do) in order to be heard, a better approach for the small online business owner is to target and personalize that message for each customer.
Make it so filled with his concerns and how you can overcome them that he will want to listen to you. Under such circumstances, your marketing changes from being "interruptive" to being an activity of building a mutually beneficial relationship of trust between buyer and seller.
No longer do you have to shout loud. Your customer will be listening to you as long as you're not boring or irrelevant.
You just need to tell your story and convince your client that you will deliver what you say you will on time and at a reasonable cost.
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Post#188 |
