Saturday, I sat under the eaves of a friend’s garage roof and watched it rain. His daughter was running across the freshly mowed lawn in the rain. Once she got too much grass on her legs and feet she would leap into her turquoise and white inflatable pool. My friend’s dad, Eddie, sat to my right wearing his paint marked work boots. Eddie is an interior and exterior painter with over 30 years of experience.
“Cabinets,” Eddie said. “If only I could have seen this earlier. I need to let people know this is what I am focusing on now. I see a lot of potential here. It is profitable for my business and meets my customer’s need: they get a new look at a much lower cost and with a lot less time commitment or interruption to their life.” He took another drink of his Bud Lite and watched his granddaughter play. The makes come from misses.
The key to finding success in a pursuit is to pursue it seriously. Be active. Be tenacious. Be dedicated. Stay focused. Small business must be working with marketing firms that allow them to make a lot of misses to get their makes. The doer has plenty of misses. The doer’s makes come from the misses.
Greatness is generated from continual contribution. Monet painted some 2,500 hundred works. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum alone possesses nearly 1,000 pieces by the artist. Spielberg has directed over 60 pictures. Kobe Bryant holds the title for an NBA player with the most ever missed shots. He was paid millions of dollars, in part, all those missed shots. Michael Jordan is sixth on that list. The makes come with some misses.
Small business marketing is more diversified than ever. Where to best to invest the capital? You need a website, maximizing POP in your brick-and-mortar location, involvement in community, or the constant parade of sponsorship seeking organizers of 5Ks and golf outings. A lot of shots to take. A lot to spend. A lot to risk. A lot of expensive misses to get those makes. Make your misses less of a financial burden.
Small and medium business should be focusing on digital footprint to provide it the ability to take more shots, have more misses, capture more makes, and lower the overall cost of each shot taken. Currently, consumer behavior surveys indicate most people looking to fill a need begin the process by consulting the internet. The internet does not charge rent. Capital requirements are minimal. Additionally, no other medium can deliver the ROI that a good digital footprint (active website and active social media) can deliver. Nothing has the spread and reach the internet offers. Nothing.
You are busy. You do not have the time to develop, maintain, assess, respond, and refine your digital footprint. Identify a firm that does. Identify a firm who says you write and we will implement across your digital footprint.
Your small business should be working with a firm who accommodates the need to take another shot. This is done by providing unlimited updates to the content on your website. Unlimited shots without needing to make an investment with gravitational pull on your cash flow. You know your business. You know your business. You know that market. A sophisticated marketing firm can or already has done the research and can provide insight. You don’t need that. I’ll beat you with it—you know your business! If you have the right managers and the right focus this consultation should not be needed. Warren Buffett would likely agree. You know the message. You know the products with high profit or the ability to gain repeat customers. You know your potential. “If I can just get them in the door, I know we will Wow! them.” The problem is you are not getting enough misses to get your makes.
Focus on your content. Be active. Be tenacious. Be dedicated. Get your misses to get your makes. Earth-shattering marketing adjustments, projects taking weeks and months, and late hours scrutinizing a font are not it. Monet did not sit down to paint a masterpiece. He painted. Paint. Paint the picture of your business. Paint it again, and again, and again. Just slightly more this way. Slightly more that way. Gentle changes. And then, oh, that’s it. It’s working. You need a firm who implements, executes, and allows you to move forward. Makes will come from the misses.
JM2 Marketing is a marketing firm in Valparaiso, IN. Talking about making the shot, the link at the end of the article is a link to a 20 second video of a shot that put Valparaiso on the map. JM2’s core focus is digital footprint management. Generally, we have no interest in writing your content, but will for an upcharge. You can do a much better job. After an appropriate amount of time, when it is not working, we encourage our clients to change the message. We charge less than $5.00 per day to take all the shots you want on your website.
If I could only get 10 more no’s in a week, I know I will get 2 more yesses this week. Eddie the painter is a small business. He needs cost effective misses to get makes. He is responding to the consumer. The consumer wants cabinet refinishes. He has done it all in residential and commercial. This weekend, he found his new make. And we will help him communicate it.
My name is Charles. My friends call me Charlie. I would be happy to speak more about this with you. I can be reached by emailing charles@BusinessYETI.com.