Marketing Hoopla

You love you some you and your reasoning skills may be paralyzed

It is naturally inherent to be in love with our business. For us to start our own company is a big deal and there is a sense of pride that comes with that.

There is nothing wrong with our passionate love affair with our business, but it can be used against us. There are thousands of advertisers out there looking to offer us their addictive crack like candy. They feed on our drive to create an image... whether the image helps or not. They feed our ego.

How many times have we all heard the famed "get your name out there", or "get in front of people". That is what ego crazed businesses and advertisers love to say.

While it is vital to get in front of the right people, it is a little more complex than to slap your ad across a baseball jersey for little league team. Do you know what your logo on a jersey does? Makes you feel good. It is a very poor way to market your company and I will explain why. Surely you will think that parents will go find a pen and paper to jot down your number... sure they will.

As discussed in an earlier blog I talked about advertising and marketing being different from each other. Advertising for most companies is usually terrible. Since they use that heavily as marketing and they waste more than they gain. Most ads leech off of the profits but are usually lost in a marketing mix that is not being accounted for.

Most times we have 5 to 20 different types of marketing devices in play, rarely do most small companies keep solid records. Add denial too because we do love seeing our names.

A name on a jersey, a sign, a vehicle, a postcard or whatever means nothing to no one (but us). There are literally tens of thousands of names being shown to us daily. Awareness and image advertising is something a small business should avoid like the plague. (or I guess the Swine Flu these days...)

Your name is not a marketing device unless it's selling-

4 Rooms Cleaned for $98 Inc

While we could sit here and try to figure out descriptive names, let's worry about our current name.

I really get freaked out when I hear "well, it is only $500 to...."

Only $500!? How many "it's only" ads do we have? If you guys want to throw money away please send me an email to get my mailing address.

Ads should have a singular purpose- to make a sale. That is it. No bs image building or awareness goals. If your ads have a purpose that hits a nerve with people, guess what? You build awareness and make money. If your ads have meaning you will create an image.

Take a look at this and let me know what gets your attention more:

Onslaught Marketing
763-444-5555

or

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Call now: 763-444-5555

Of course you adjust your ad to whatever you find out is important to your best prospects. There is NO universal solution. You can't appeal to everyone who has windows or carpets. Quality leads are what you want, nothing else.

Am I saying that you should not have your name on trucks, shirts, ads? hell no. But your name is the least important part. What you can do for the reader is all important. Why should they remember or write down your name and number, just because?

I use emotional triggers all the time. My highly praised and hugely successful ebook is proof of that (see my ad here). I walk the talk and I do this on all of my ads for window cleaning as well.

Most "marketing experts" are full of crap. Most write books and have blogs and have no home runs of their own. They have no data backing the latest article they read and manipulate to make themselves sound smart.

Nothing is more important than facts. Facts hurt as our beloved ego ads would need to be cut or redone to work. We start to fall out of love with ads that do not have our name blazing acrossed it. Most will sacrifice converting sales just to feel better.

Put your name out there, just make sure you attach meaning to it.

Go get some

Paul