Why the Old Marketing System is Broken
Great newspaper ads get completely ignored. Direct mailers get thrown in the circular file without a glance. Billboards go unseen. Radio and TV ads get muted, ignored or fast-forwarded.
Way back when (pre-Internet, pre-cable station days) there were three major TV channels and a lot fewer radio stations. Your target audience was on all of them at one time or another because their choices were limited. So sellers advertised and people bought. Selling was a monologue, not a dialogue or a three-ring circus.
Today consumers are exposed to an average of 3,000 ads every day. Today people can research easily, get in touch easily, and extol your virtues (and vices) with the click of a mouse and a few key strokes. And consumers skirt the old way of doing business at every opportunity. They don’t like being sold to. They love being informed, though, and invited to dialogue with you.
So get used to it and find out how to do it. It starts with a prospect database. How do you get one? You provide immense value in exchange for your target audience’s email addresses. Then you let them know that you understand their pain, problem or predicament and offer ways to overcome them without pressing for an immediate sale. Or even a sale very soon.
Look over your current marketing material. Does it address the issues that your prospective clients need answers to or help with? Does it explain why your company is the best choice for solving their problems? If not, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
