Everything you do in business is advertising.
Everything you do in business is advertising.
Most small business owners, of which I am one, think of advertising as running ads in the newspaper or on radio, TV, yellow pages, direct mail, billboards and the Internet. But there are many other things I believe are advertising too.
Whether your last customer left happy, mad, or indifferent is advertising.
I’m talking about PEF.
Personal Experience Factor. The way a lady feels about you and your business after she has left to drive home. How a guy feels about your dealership after he has the new pickup truck sitting in his driveway.
I do a lot of things in my own business to try to move up that needle in a persons mind. (the “who cares” needle)
In my mind I see it as advertising. If Suzie Smith tells a friend: “Hey, you gotta read Clay’s new book it’s great!”
That’s better than me saying, “ Hey, you really should buy my new book. People say it’s great. We’re having a sale on them and we have a very limited supply.” ( If we run out, I’ll go out to the storage building, and bring in another very limited supply) :-)
Everyone can easily see my silly analogy with my book.
It’s a little tougher to see, in your own business. Is it better for me to leave your car dealership and say, “They really treated me fair and gave me a fair price for my trade-in? They let me take the car Friday evening. I brought it back Monday morning and they asked me if liked that one or did I want to take another one home to try it out?”
I’ve never dealt with such nice people before. They sent my wife and I a dozen red roses a week after I bought it with a note that said: ‘Thank you for buying your vehicle from us’.
A month after I bought it I got a real nice hand written note from the sales person that said: “Thank you again for buying your vehicle from me. If you send a friend or relative to me that buys a vehicle, we’ll buy you dinner at the restaurant of your choice here in town. Just write your name on my card and give it to them. Here are a few of my cards.”
Then, you won’t believe this - it wasn’t even mentioned at the time of the sale.
I got this email from the dealership that said: As a way of showing our appreciation
to you we are going to give you an oil lube and filter change and a free inspection
every three months for the next year - FREE!!!
And remember if you don’t have time to bring it in, we’ll send a service technician
to you to pick up your vehicle and return it to you after the free inspection
and oil change. All at no Charge!! Can you believe that??? I’ll buy my next car
there I guarantee it!!
It seems to me, that’s better than shouting loudly and endlessly on the radio TV and Newspapers over and over: “We’re having a really really big sale! Prices will never be this low again. We’re selling these at our cost! Now is the best time to buy - Hurry on down. Come see us for the lowest prices in town! It’s the biggest sale of the year! ( Does anyone anywhere believe the BS when a business is advertising they’re having the biggest sale of the year?” Instead, why not just try to find out what people want then give it to them?
If a business advertises great service then you go in to that business and get great service you will feel you got what you expected and you will feel even with that business when you leave. You’ll feel like you got for what you paid for. We’re all like that. You only become a raving fan or give terrific word of mouth advertising when you get something really great or the business performed in some way that WASN’T expected. So when you leave, you’re feeling like you got way more than what you paid for. You go tell everyone how great the food was, how tremendous the movie was, how you bought it at an auction and it was worth $5000 and you got it for 150 bucks.
For example:
I bought an engine on ebay that's worth about $5000 for my 1978 280ce. I paid $79 for it. I’ve told about 10,000 people about it so far.
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?
