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Ideas/Section-1
I'm sure you have watched those infomercials
that take over our television set every night after midnight. They
haunt the late-night viewer until 6:00 or 7:00 AM. Then, if that
wasn't enough, the 24-hour-a-day shopping networks will try to part
you from your money.
Even though you can pick up a lot of great
marketing tips from this type of television programming, this is
NOT the only way to market your product or service. Let's look at
another excellent example . . .
Some of you may remember the television
show, Dallas. If not consider your favorite soap opera like As The
World Turns, or Guiding Light. Every single one of these shows have
something in common: They all leave every show with a cliff-hanger
that is designed to make you want to tune-in the next day to see
what happens.
This is a perfect example of subtle marketing.
Subtle marketing doesn't ask you to part with your money. Instead,
subtle marketing asks you to part with your time which is essentially
the same thing. Because when someone parts with their time because
you emotionally control them (sort-to-speak), you have that potential
customer in the palm of your hand. Now, all you do is transfer that
energy into selling your product or service and you will have a
customer for life.
It's a known fact, that repeat business
is the key to making the big bucks. If you offer a shoddy product
and do not give your customer's a reason to do business with you
again you will spend your life continually working to replace new
customers. This takes a lot of energy especially money on your part.
Consistent marketing to local new customers will never prove to
your benefit.
However, where the problem comes in is
that business owners who have a shoddy product and find themselves
in this position, never admit the truth. Or, perhaps some of them
don't know how to not have a shoddy product. They don't have the
knowledge of how to improve their product or service without a loss
in revenue so they will believe they are backed in a corner with
no way out.
Don't ever believe for one second that
you are ever backed in a corner and can't move. There is NO SUCH
THING as this situation in the mind of a leader. Every leader knows
there is no problem without a solution that exists. It may take
a little longer to find the answer to one problem and less time
for another. But the fact remains there IS a solution to every problem.
Plain and simple!!
All you have to do is have the desire to
look for a solution. You can't look for the solution in the middle
of a mess. Instead, you have to develop the ability to stand outside
the problem and view it from a bird's eye view. If you can't do
that you should hire or look for someone you can trust that can.
Because once you look at the whole situation, rather than a piece
of it you will be able to solve just about anything.
The infomercials, Dallas and the other
soap operas, mentioned previously, are excellent examples of hard
and subtle marketing methods. Each works differently because each
one is marketed specifically for the product or service they are
selling. The soap operas use subtle marketing because they want
people to watch their show tomorrow. Infomercials use hard marketing
methods because their interest main interest is making money.
But they use a subtle approach to their
hard-sell methods by making the product sound as if the viewer cannot
possibly live without it. That's why they have customers call in
and tell about their experience with the product. The customer feels
special because they get to talk on live television. This feeling
is directly related to their ego which in turn parts them with their
money. Take some time and think about it.