Good, Bad, and Ugly of Marketing
In a small community like Gig Harbor, it can be a challenge for small business owners to succeed. Marketing is necessary, but it can be expensive as well. I’m curious what marketing is deemed most effective. How do we choose our professionals?
There are several TV ads that stick in my mind. Recently there has been a disgusting ad for a divorce lawyer that shows a couple clearly angry with each other watching TV when a commercial comes on with a lady exclaiming how she made her ex-husband’s life miserable by hiring this lawyer. The couple on the couch then go into a scene that disturbingly resembles domestic violence as they fight for the phone to try and make each other’s life as miserable as the other lady did to her husband. Seriously, that’s on TV. There’s also an insurance company that has some screaming farcical cowboy with other odd characters dancing around behind him. It’s non-sensical chaos that I truly thought was a joke the first few times I saw it, then I realized it was actually advertising for a real insurance company. I’m ashamed to admit I remember the name of the company, but happy to say I’d never insure anything with this side show.
On the flip side there is a commercial for a local mattress store (Silverdale is where they is…you have to see it) that is probably the most entertaining thing on television. I don’t care how much they charge, next time I need a bed I’m going to the Mattress Ranch in Silverdale (you can view a YouTube commercial here…it’s from his Alaska store, but same guy and same idea). Each week in the Peninsula Gateway (our local newspaper), there was a doctor or chiropractor who ran an interesting ad. It looked like a basic Dear John letter, and it was real personal and mushy and completely contrary to anything I’d ever do. Yet I’m pretty sure that if I ever needed a doctor or chiropractor, I’d call this guy, ’cause I kind of liked his unique ads. Problem is, I don’t know his name and I don’t even remember what kind of doctor he is.
Makes me think of my own advertising. A few years ago when I first got into real estate, I sent 100’s of postcards out each month to people I didn’t even know (I’m sure you get this kind of stuff frequently). I bought a nice little campaign piece that featured a different doggy postcard each month, with cute doggy pictures and fun sayings like, “Matt Thomson…your best friend in real estate” and “HUNTING for a home? Let Matt Thomson be your pointer” and “Matt Thomson can sniff out the best home deals for you.” I never got a single phone call, email, or any other type of response from those cards, despite spending $100’s of dollars. Maybe people didn’t want a dog for their real estate agent. I’ve since changed my approach and no longer mail out junk mail. I do my marketing in other ways.
I’d be curious to know how you choose your professionals. When you need a doctor, a dentist, a plumber, or a Realtor, do you open up the phone book, scour ads in the paper, call a friend? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
December 12th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
If I can’t find a referral from a friend, I use Angie’s List. Well worth the $5 per month fee.
http://www.angieslist.com
December 13th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Thank you, deeply, for refraining from further junk mail. Nothing is more obnoxious than moving into a new home and immediately getting pounded by realtors in the mailbox. I even had two knock on my door, “Welcome to the neighborhood…when you want to move again, call me!” (no not kidding they said that.)
When I was a personal chef, I served as marketing coordinator for a year for our national trade association. One of the things that always struck me in that kind of a service industry was that paid advertising NEVER worked. I mean literally; thousands of chefs for the 6 years I was in the business, and no one reported returns on paid ads. Our chefs always got the most business off of press releases and community involvement. Anything that led to positive word-of-mouth or website hits was what worked best. I did anything that would get me written in an article in the paper or the business journal.