You know, It’s so easy to get sucked into the idea that traditional advertising makes Small Business flourish. I mean, what owner wouldn’t want to spend a little bit of money and have customers roll thru the door like clockwork. Sounds simple enough, especially if I just write a check and let an “expert” do the work. Problem is, a little bit of money usually turns into a decent amount of the operating budget, and the only clockwork involved is a constant burn of hard-earned dollars to pay for advertising that typically brings less than a 1% return. Wow. 1%. Stop me before I faint.
As I whole, “advertising” just isn’t working anymore. It may for a select few, but for most, it’s truly a bad experience. Customers have gotten really good at tuning out pitches of “we are the best at this” or “highest quality-work this side of the Mississippi.” What options do you have:
SPAM Emails - People either report or delete them; Telemarketing - Hang up; Coupon Mailers - Chucked; Ads - Lost in Shuffle; Flyers - Litter; Dancing Sign Guy - Sympathy in 100 degree heat; Promos - Hit or Miss.
You get the point. So what’s an owner to do? Simply put…
Build a fan base and get their permission to stay in touch, offer promos and specials, announce events, etc. This is the premise of LittleEngine. There is no need to spend money on wasteful tactics. The economy isn’t exactly cooperating with the notion of spending more money, so we as owners need to spend more time developing our fan base and communicating with them. Thru blogs, messaging, announcements, and social networking, all of us can spend less money on promotion and actually get more effective results. Start building your fan base on LittleEngine. Start a blog, send announcements, upload photos or even a video, connect with other owners. Watch your fan base grow and reap the rewards for time well served. It’s time we started thinking differently and get more involved with our customers. This is the platform to get going…
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