I’ve had a few conversations with business owners lately. When we talk about advertising, they say, “Word-of-mouth is the best kind of advertising!”
I understand. Anything that can help bring you customers FOR FREE is fantastic! But in most cases, word-of-mouth doesn’t happen fast enough for you. And it’s not advertising. Advertising is something you do to help INCREASE word of mouth (just hope that most of your word of mouth is good).
The only thing advertising can do is to accelerate the inevitable. Advertising doesn’t compete with word of mouth, it helps it. It nudges it along at a faster pace.
So, if you run a good business, advertising will bring you more customers to help spread that “good word of mouth”. People that advertise, want to grow faster than they can organically. If you have little to no competition…you may not have to advertise. But if you have a slug of competitors, you’ll probably need some good advertising to help you keep or grow your “slice of pie”.
Speaking of pie, I’m almost finished with a 90-page e-book called “Take A Bigger Slice”. Here’s an excerpt from Part 5: Staying In Business…
…Even if you’re comfortable with the business you’re currently doing, “being comfortable” is one thing that can bring you down. There is always someone (your competition) scratching and clawing in an attempt to take customers away from you. That’s money out of your pocket for not just one sale, but possibly a lifetime of sales. And you don’t want that situation to snowball, do you?…
Word-of-mouth is super wicked-awesome. But the speed of your good word-of-mouth isn’t fast enough for you, then a smart and strategic advertising plan will help you get where you want to be. Notice, I said, “smart and strategic”. You can advertise until you’re broke if you don’t say the right things in your ads…and if you don’t have a plan in place that offers great potential.
All you have to is decide if you’re OK with the pace of your current word-of-mouth. If not, you need to find some people that know how advertising works. In the past, you’ve had advertising that sucks goats. So, of course your word of mouth has worked better than your past advertising. But then HOW do you find the right “ad people”, who know what they’re doing? Well, for starters don’t believe all the statistics and percentages and pie charts that are thrown at you. They can make “numbers” look as good or as bad as they want.
Choosing the right ad person is something I cover in the “Extras” section of my upcoming e-book. It’ll be ready very soon. Talk to you later!
Have a good word-of-mouth day!
Duane Christensen
Non-Fat Advertising blog
I’m a radio marketing guy in Sioux Falls who loves helping local businesses improve their marketing message. The difference between good advertising and bad is usually all about the MESSAGE. Improve your ad message, and you’ll improve your advertising results.
