subject: A Guaranteed Way To Reduce Your Business "Taxes" [print this page] A Guaranteed Way To Reduce Your Business "Taxes"
Wouldn't you like to recapture some of your tax dollars?
I'm not talking about the IRS. I'm talking about your ad budget.
In the words of Robert Stephens, "Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable."
I was once consulting with a business who was leery of advertising. "We tried it in the past," they said, " and it didn't work."
It wasn't their advertising that didn't work. It was the fact that they had nothing to say; nobody who heard their ads cared.
"Should I or should I not advertise?" is a crummy question. My response: "Well, do you actually have something worth advertising?"
The right question is, "What can I improve in my business to create such an astonishing, unexpected, over-the-top experience that my customers will rave about me to all their friends?
"How can I become the only choice in my category and area? What can I do that will make my competitors freak out and cause new customers to flood through my doors waving cash and begging me to take it?"
Advertising is not a silver bullet. It is not the savior to a broken business.
Advertising simply accelerates what would have happened anyway.
If your business is going to succeed, advertising will make you succeed faster. If your business is going to fail...
Worried about spending too much on advertising and getting lackluster results? Calculate what your ad budget should be, then use a percentage of it to create a "wow" experience for your customers.
If you're a chiropractor, use dollars that would have been spent on advertising to pay a massage therapist to give every person who walks through your doors a free massage.
If you own a restaurant, spend a portion of your ad budget to give a free, signature, mind-blowing dessert to every diner.
(Overheard in salons, at barbecues, on Facebook: "Have you eaten at Cool Guys? Their Super-Dooper Deluxe Dessert is to DIE for! And you get one FOR FREE every time you eat there! You TOTALLY should try them!"
Cha-ching. See those "ad dollars" in action?)
According to Direct Marketing News Magazine, "Each of us sees more ads in one year than the people of 50 years ago saw in an entire lifetime."
How will your ads pierce the clutter, grab prospects by the throat, and leap into their conscious awareness?
By actually sharing a worthwhile message. The more relevant and salient your offering, the less money and energy you have to spend telling people about it.
Your product, service, customer experience is your best form of advertising.
Is it remarkable enough to spread -- even without formal advertising? Does it stand out enough that advertising will be like lighting fireworks fuses?
If you want to grow, aggressive advertising is a must. But as Roy H. Williams put it, "'Aggressive' doesn't require a big budget. It requires a big message."
A big message doesn't mean using an obnoxious announcer, flashing banner ads, scarcity, urgency, or price gimmicks.
It means exceeding expectations. It means giving your customers something that makes them stop in their tracks, latch onto you forever, and insist to their friends that you're the best in town.
You create a big message by improving your business model and customer experience.
Wow your customers. Reduce your ad "taxes." Boom your business.
