That old sunscreen song said “Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth…” Then again, maybe I’m just trying to snag some bits of genius/wisdom to help you keep from crashing and burning like I did? Either way, here goes…
Life in this day and age is exceedingly expensive when you think about it…cars, houses, kids, owning a business; even a cup of Starbucks coffee is going to cost you 10x what a mug of motor oil out of the company machine will. But, we spend our hard earned dollars on things that we really want and often say we “need.”
On a professional level, do you truly know what you need? An office, some clients, catchy slogans, great ads, fun chatskis blasting your logo to the world…Ok, those are needs right? Or, wait, are those wants? Really, isn’t the need business? Ie: consumers/clients trusting your product and service. Is a polo shirt or a billboard really going to matter if your widgets are collecting dust on the shelf? Not so much.
So now, we know you need business…cash-flow, faith, repeat business and so forth. How are you going to let the world know who you are, what you do, and how to find it so they can provide that much sought after patronage? Stab in the dark…you’re going to call some advertising salespeople and have them tell you how their product is going to have people knocking your door down. Because salespeople are all pure of heart, right? I’m afraid it isn’t that simple anymore.
Business owners of today have to tread lightly to figure out what is actually working for them in a cluttered marketing environment. So, you can take their ideas, wild ideas, guaranteed impressions and test them for yourself. You can track your phone lines or your web sites, put phone numbers on your media, and actually see what’s working for you. No excuses, no nonsense, no customer feedback cards….just your results, every web visit or ring of your phone, there in black and white. Reading a Seth Godin piece today, I took note of his observation that “Often, we’re hesitant to identify a problem out of fear we can’t solve it. Just because you don’t know what to do about it doesn’t make it less of a problem.”
Put a little faith in yourself, your product, your marketing, and your business savvy and arm yourself with the tools to correct the problem. The results might be a bit scary at first, but isn’t the old saying no pain, no gain? We’re here to help…just a click or a call away…
Tags: advertising, call tracking, marketing, website tracking