Marketing Strategy-Are You Throwing Your Marketing Dollars Away?
My good friend and mentor Craig Garber has a saying…
He says, “Hope is not a good business strategy”
So when a neighbor of mine told me he had just opened a new Karate studio I was thrilled for him.
I said great, hey listen-if you need any help with your marketing I’d be happy to help you out. Obviously I want him to do well.
I mean think about it, here’s a guy going out on a limb and opening a small business and one of the toughest economies we’ve seen.
So anyway back to my neighbor, I offered to help him with a website and some direct mail marketing including post cards and lead generation ads.
Well he told me he had it all covered as he hired a marketing firm to handle his marketing.
So I checked out his website and to my dismay it was a typical waste of time and money.
It was nothing more than an electronic postcard with name, rank and serial number. There is no compelling headline , no compelling offer, no lead generation or name capture information and not a single testimonial.
I really felt sad for him because I knew I could help him but he already hired this big dumb marketing company to do his marketing.
So the next big “marketing strategy” his company used was the use of bandit signs at every intersection in our little city of Chester Springs, PA-Just outside of West Chester, PA.
You’ve probably seen these marketing signs before-typically realtors use these signs to advertise open houses or new housing developments-ever wonder why so many realtors are broke? Now you know.
Look, these people think selling a house consist of walking people through the thing and pointing out the kitchen, bathroom and carpet! Uh duh…I am pretty sure I know that’s a kitchen and this is carpet.
Anyway…sorry about that.
So I’m driving my kids to school the other day and I see a landscaper with all my neighbors bandit signs under his arm. He was picking them all up and throwing them away!
I could only think about how my friend and neighbor might as well taken his money and flushed it down the toilet.
I mean unless you are hot and horny for a karate studio at the very moment you see the bandit sign are you really going to pick up the phone and call this guy?
What incentive do you have to pick up the phone or drive your car to his dojo to sign up for a class?
We’ll here’s the problem with this type of marketing. Unfortunately I’m afraid my neighbor and friend is going to find out the hard way.
But you have to know there is a better way of marketing your goods and services and if you check back to my blog often you’ll discover for yourself why hope is NOT a good marketing strategy and you’ll pick up some marketing tips that actually work!
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