Does your advertising need Viagra?
I don't ever get too excited over something, which very intelligent people
disagree on. Politics, Religion, or Advertising. Some say branding works, some say
don't do it. Some do only ROI and check every little thing and make sure
it's giving you your money back.
Others say take a certain % of your income and spend it on advertising and
put it where you really believe it will do the most good, then STICK WITH
THAT!
I say: what makes small business owners' advertising dollars impotent is they
keep switching from one thing to another to another hoping for those very
elusive instant results. Then they expect me, or someone like me to come
along with some Viagra, Cialis, or Lavetra for their advertising to make it
produce "results". That usually doesn't work.
I believe this with all my heart: Some things will work well for one
business, then another business will try the exact same thing and it doesn't work at all.
An ad that worked great for one jewelry store in Texas did no good at all
for another jewelry store Missouri. As an experiment, in my early days of working in radio, I wrote a great ad for one car dealer which produced results like magic. The exact same ad produced no results whatsoever for another car dealer.
"I believe half of my advertising dollars are wasted but I'm not sure which
half to quit".
That quote is attributed to Henry Ford and also to John Wanamaker.
But, that also could be said by any business owner in America. I deal with
businesses everyday that tell me that same thing too. For my own personal
business, I think of advertising like carrying health insurance or a spare
tire in my trunk. I keep a spare tire aired up and ready in case I need it.
I keep the insurance paid up in case I need it.
Similarly I exercise, drink lots of water, eat healthy food, and take vitamins every day. I don't know for absolutely sure if it works or not; I do it just IN CASE IT WORKS because I want to be healthy and in good shape physically. I don't like it, and its
time consuming and very expensive; but I do it anyway!
I run my business and take care of our customers in a manner so that I am depending
on word of mouth advertising and referrals. I expect my customers to
RAVE to everyone about how well they were treated, the value for the price
they paid, and something we did for them or that we had that NO ONE ELSE DID
OR HAD. Fortunately a combination of that and my advertising strategy has
caused us to prosper and grow and develop 1000's of raving fans.
My solution is:
Find what works for your business. Stick with it.
Do more of it. Find a hundred different ways to do it. And don't ever stop.
Perhaps now would be a good time to have a
complimentary meeting with a Wizard of Ads Partner. Links to their websites and blogs are listed down the right side of
The Wizard Times. Hundreds of their articles with free insightful advice can been seen at
www.americansmallbusiness.com 2010 would be a great year to attend a class at the
Wizard Academy 21st Century Business School in Austin Texas.
What is the Wizard Academy?
See you next week.
Clay Campbell
Wizard of Ads
PS.
Need help to attract more customers and grow your business?
