People will do anything to save a marriage except love each other. To save a romance there is a clear solution – do the things you did that sparked the romance. Just ask Clyde if he wants to take Shirley to the dance. “Naw, she already married me.” For many men the last dance they ever dance is at their wedding. The conquest has been made.
Such is the case with business. In romance we called the overt acts of patronage, dating. In business we call it marketing.
So when a business – any business of any type – finds clients are no longer responding the business has a couple of choices:
1. Be satisfied with where you are and trim your budget accordingly, awaiting a better day. It’s kind of a bunker mentality. Hunkering down and weathering the storm. That presupposes your competitors are doing the same. But, if they’re busy inventing and getting creative in how they attract new clients, when you finally awaken from your stupor, they’re so far ahead of you in creating business that you are now the dinosaur.
2. Close the business. Maybe you’re in the wrong profession, wrong business or have lost your desire or edge. Then time to close it down and try something else. Nothing wrong with that if you’ve lost the fire in your belly for this adventure. And if you’re a buggy whip maker and Henry Ford just drove by in his Model T then you can either find a sucker to buy your company or figure out a new market for buggy whips or sell off the assets and close it down.
3. Redeploy your assets. Do things better. Be smarter in how you attract customers and keep them. If you still have the passion, get going, but get going different from what you’re doing. If your advertising hasn’t been working, don’t do more of the same non-productive ads, try a new approach. It is a common sin in business for businesses under siege to hunker down and cut, and the first thing they cut is the sales and marketing force. Does that make any sense? Yes, if you are working in the “1. Be Satisfied” category. When business slows down NOW is the time to ramp up the marketing and advertising. Now is the time to get smart about it. Now is the time to try cost effective ads that attract customers.
One might ask, “Maybe it’s not my ad, maybe it is the magazine or other medium that I’ve been advertising.” Maybe. Examine the magazine for how they’ve been doing. For one magazine I consult with, Classical Singer, advertisers sometimes stop advertising because they’re not getting results.
On many occasions I’ve had a chance to discuss the person’s advertising with them and it is very clear why they’re getting few results. Their advertising fails to address the needs of their customers or presents it in such a way as to make the reading of their ad not worth the time.
Here is one tell-tale sign of an ad that has little chance of working:
The ad is all about the advertiser and not the customer. Remember, your business must be about “them”, not “you.” Check out your headline. Does it say something like:
Manhattan School of Art complete with the neat logo and picture of the director
We have the best school of art in the world. Our teachers are prestigious and wonderful.
That ad is all about Manhattan and nothing about the customer. It says nothing about what is in it for the customer; nothing about how the product will make the life of the customer any better.
Change that one element and you’ll begin to notice a difference. 80% of the ads in Classical Singer make this mistake. Many are beautiful to look: a vision for the eyes but a famine for the soul.
People are inwardly begging to be led but they care about themselves, not you. No one cares who you are or what your product is, only what it will do for them. If you don’t OVERTLY and immediately address that, you have little chance of getting business.
To put some spark into your love affair with your customer, start talking about what they need and want. Your logo means nothing. Branding is not your problem. Bury the logo at the bottom. Put dramatic ways that will help your customer at the top. Once they get excited about how their life can be enhanced, they’ll dig deep to find out who can help them.
Don’t stop advertising in a magazine where other people are getting great results. Instead, follow some expert advice and start creating advertisements that speak to your customer, not to the art department.
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