Advertising is dead; Try This Instead
Posted by Abdul Vasi on 27 Jul 2010 at 9:19 pm | Tagged as: Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs or small business owners, marketing managers and those associated with product development, sales & marketing and anything that comes close to anything to do with the customer buying the product might not like to know this: your advertisements aren’t going to work as well as they should.
Am I kidding?
Advertisements had a charm in those halcyon days when consumers used to flock to buy stuff. It isn’t happening any more thanks to bombardment of thousands of messages on to a rather learned, sophisticated, forum thronging and community-opinion centric consumers. Popular media is slowly taking a back-seat and that should already get some marketing managers looking for alternative jobs and force small business entrepreneurs to think well and way out of the box.
So what works?
Ensure that you have a great product that delivers value: There is no escaping this fact; if you thought you could just slap some product or service and go about selling it all off, it isn’t going to happen and you will crumble sooner than it takes you to make a product. Once this step is in place, good things must be happening to you immediately if you follow the next few steps well.
Get people talking about it: Self-expression and the community power have now taken a firm identity of its own and buzz-marketing, people’s opinions, corporate blogs, forums, social marketing, etc., have people talking about products and services all the time. Your goal should be to ensure that they speak highly of your product or service. If you make it here, half of your work is done.
Pay attention to user generated content: Since you escape social media at all, you might as use it for your advantage. User-generated content isn’t just for casual reading and enjoying all the attention. You got to take note of whatever is being said there and work to wipe out those little bugs that might be plaguing your product or service. Being there is all about trying to find out how happy your customers are (or aren’t). If you have a corporate blog, throw it open for the public to comment on it and see what they have to say.
Make changes as long as god himself loves it: Simply said, aim to be perfect and when you see that you aren’t, simply apologize. Make up for it. Go out of your way and don’t come back until the consumer forgives you. Focus on continuous improvements, think creatively and bring in new ways of doing things. Make your products and services better than never before and aim to please your customers.
Rise and repeat: Eventually, you’d see that some things work very effectively while some don’t. Perhaps you should pay attention to young adults and not old folks. Whatever it is, document it and then repeat it consistently. Develop systems and standardize everything; pick up the pulse of your customers and make sure that you are on the right track – no matter what your goals are.
Success should be round the corner and chances are that it wouldn’t be because of your fancy billion dollar advertisement on The New York Times.
