If you build it, they might come.
Creating a business worth talking about -- something none of your competitors are doing, or even thinking about doing -- is only half the battle. Now you need to tell people about it. Not only that, but you have to tell them in a creative, attention-grabbing way that does your amazing product and/or service and/or way of doing business justice.
"Sounds hard! And expensive!" Yeah, it does, but it doesn't have to be either. The trick is to figure out your goals -- otherwise, your expectations ("I want a million new customers!") are not going to line up with what you're willing to do ("I can spend $50 and 10 minutes on this!"). The best way to do that is with a primo tool that our Philadelphia marketing agency calls the Reality Marketing Continuum.
The graph in a nutshell: the more investment, effort, and time you put into your marketing, the better results you get.
"Duh." Okay, smart guy, but here's the point: only a small portion of the graph is occupied by the fat part of the arrow, and for good reason: that's a lot of time, effort, and investment. Even most of the big fancy companies on the big fancy Fortune 500 didn't start there right off the bat. They didn't always have the budget and resources to run jillion-dollar ad campaigns. They knew that a little smart marketing of their cool stuff could get them a decent hunk of results, and as time went on and they kept growing, they could slowly move their way up the line.
"Can we recap?" Of course! Here's the bottom line:
- Have something worth talking about
- Tell your world, not the world (that will come in time)
I get it. Now help me get started!
Still not feeling it. Tell me more about how to beat the competition.
