I have been reading a series of books by Seth Godin. He is a consultant and successful business guru.
While reading one of his books recently, he mentioned a concept that really caught my attention. He suggested that people STOP advertising the conventional way.
Why? Because the world has changed. We no longer have 3 television stations, for example. There are now hundreds. People are busier now and capturing folks’ attention is much tougher.
When I stopped to think about my own advertising, I faced the following reality:
1. 95% of my business comes from Google, word of mouth, free consumer lists and other search engines.
2. The other 5% of my business comes from advertising. Rarely does a person tell me that the called me as a result of an ad that I had running.
I will say this. About once every 4 – 6 months I send out several thousand direct mail post cards and the post cards do very well. However, I have excellent mailing lists and I target neighborhoods appropriately.
I cannot advise anyone not to advertise. However, for my company, advertising is pretty much a thing of the past. I will continue the direct mail campaigns. I’ll continue with my barter advertising. But once my present ads expire, I won’t renew.
Another thing that Seth Godin mentioned was that it’s best to do great things that bring the news to you. Start an association. Donate part of your business to a charity, for example. Do something that is newsworthy because the goal is to get people to discuss your business.
I think about Debbie Sardone (who I absolutely admire!) She started a nonprofit organization called “Cleaning for a Reason”. That alone brought her in a tremendous amount of press, so Seth is correct.
My advice to readers is to think about what I have said. Think about what Seth has said. Study your ad results. Have an OUTSTANDING WEBSITE! Once search engines send you traffic, the website becomes your sales person.
I am personally about to dump my present design and start all over again. My plan is to have a totally re-vamped website by December, 2009.
If you choose to continue advertising, that’s fine. But think ahead and undertand that advertising has changed and so should you and your company!
This is a good presentation of some of Seth’s ideas.
I believe that advertisement is not dead, but the concept should be revisited. The tools and channels are certainly different and more challenging in many ways and we have to be flexible enough to cope with it. Moreover, the tip that is also coming from Seth Godin and goes along with this post theme is to create a story for people to believe in. It is a new way of advertisement as well. It creates an image, start word of mouth, and make a connection with customers.
Saad,
Thanks very much for your insight.