If you are in a hurry, you don't like my writing style, or you have a short attention span I will provide the short version of the story first.  For any of you who are interested, I will go into more detail afterwards. 

Short version: I was offended by an employee at the library, rather than make a scene I just went home and bitched about it on Twitter.  The right person read my complaint, and 2 emails later the issue was dealt with and I felt much better.

Lesson: Many business owners fear social media because they feel that any negative comments they receive will damage their reputation.  However as this situation proves, paying attention and responding to negative comments immediately, not only stops them from spreading like cancer, but can turn the complainer into a very vocal supporter.

Now for the long version I will include a copy of the story from the email I sent.

I arrived at the library at about 1:30 to return some books we had
finished with, and pick out a couple more.  Normally I bring my middle
two children with me because they are the ones who really like coming
to pick out books, but last week their behavior at the library wasn't
very good, so they didn't get to come with me this week.  When I was
upstairs in the paperback series section looking for a book to read to
my oldest daughter (tough to pick something she will be interested in,
that she can follow, that won't drive me insane) I was interrupted by
a security guard.  He asked me if I was there with my son or daughter.
 I told him I got to leave them at home today, and that I was picking
out books for them.  He told me I wasn't allowed to be there.  I was
confused by this, so I said something brilliant like "Huh?" and he
told me that adults couldn't be upstairs because of pedophiles.  I
told him I wasn't hanging around, I was leaving once I found the book
I was looking for and he left.

Now as a father, obviously I understand wanting to keep kids safe from
strangers, so at first I tried to justify his actions by thinking
maybe I would like someone protecting my kids that way.  I made a few
jokes about how creepy I must have looked and tried to let it go.
However the more I thought about it the madder I got.  If there is
someone who seems a little off around my kids, I keep an eye on it, or
I'll go up and introduce myself and offer to "get my kids to stop
bugging them", but I won't run up and say "excuse me, you look like a
pedophile."  I understand keeping an eye on people who might be
suspicious, but assuming that all adults are pedophiles is more than a
little overboard.  I didn't see any children with him, maybe he
shouldn't be there either...

Anyways, thank you for taking my concern seriously.  I absolutely love
the facility, and the rest of the staff have always been incredible.

Within an hour of sending that email, it was passed to the appropriate people and I was satisfied with my apology.
I didn't complain because I wanted the guy to get a beating or anything,
I didn't even ask for my $1 overdue book fine to be taken care of, I simply wanted to be heard.
So there you have it business people, it doesn't have to cost you anything to deal with complaints and create raving fans
out of your detractors. Just pay attention to people, listen to their concerns, and apologize when it's needed.
Thank you to the wonderful folks both in the library and on the board for looking after me.

Feel free to share any thoughts or similar experiences in the comments section.

P.S. If you are still reading this you should stop and go get a book from the library!

Yes, I'll admit the "slap yourself" part of the title was more about getting you to keep reading than it was an attempt to get you to cause yourself physical harm, but only because it's really REALLY important that you get what I am going to say here.

The idea that getting your advertisements in front of as many pairs of eyes as possible is second only to the "getting your name out there" myth in terms of being the biggest WASTE of your advertising dollars.

Want me to explain?

Well, if you don't know the truth about "getting your name out there" you can read it in a previous article. The reason the idea of advertising to as many people as possible is killing your ad budget is because the more people an ad reaches, the more expensive it is to run. You are wasting your money by getting your ads in front of people who have no interest in what you are offering.

The goal is actually to get your (good) advertisement in front of as many people as possible who fit your clearly defined target market and are actively looking for your product or service. I know we haven't really covered how to narrow your target market yet, it's a fairly big topic so I won't go into a huge amount of detail today. The important thing for now is to understand that the broader you aim your ad the less effective it's going to be.

For example.

Let's say you are selling a product that helps people catch more fish… Would you aim your marketing at everyone because fish is food and everybody eats food, so everybody is a customer? Or do you think it would be better to narrow that down a bit and market to fly fishermen who are interested in catching more salmon?

It would be a mistake to say the first group is bigger so I should aim at them. First of all it would be very expensive to run an ad to the entire food eating population, (many of whom don't fish, or live anywhere near water) and secondly it would be so broad that no one would notice it. However it would be much less expensive to put your ad in a fly fishing magazine and the chances of reaching people who are interested in spending money on a fly fishing product for catching more salmon are greatly increased.

Okay, so now that we've covered that please promise me you will stop throwing your money away on ads that reach a whole lot of people who don't want what you are offering, and focus on the targeted group who want to give you money instead.

This is a tough one for lots of people… The harder you have studied and slaved to become an expert or develop the best product, the harder it can be to get over this one. I don't know if there is a University course that covers this, or if it's just an attitude picked up after running in to a high pressure salesperson or two… But somewhere along the line most experts become convinced that selling things is beneath them.

Are you an expert on something? Have you ever thought about writing a book on your topic of expertise? Many experts will write a great book, it might be the greatest book on their particular subject in the history of the universe, and then be shocked when they aren't instantly rich and famous with a stampede of people beating a path to their door…

What's missing?

C'mon you can guess… this is an article about marketing after all.

Yes, you're right it IS marketing/sales. Have you ever seen a Best Smartest Expert Author list published anywhere that people are bragging about being on? How about a Bestseller List? Imagine for a second you had just finished reading two identical articles on whatever subject you happen to be interested in. The first article was written by someone you have never heard of and the second article was written by a Bestselling author. Which one would you say had the most credibility? (Pretend for a second that you didn't notice the articles were identical) Even if the first author was the smartest most capable expert in that field, I'm guessing you would pay more attention to the bestseller.

As tough a myth as it might be to get over, it is absolutely VITAL that you realize that marketing is MORE important than being the best. Look at Dr. Phil as an example… Do you think he is the best therapist out there? Probably not even close. BUT I guarantee the average person doesn't know that, and if they do they don't care. (Not to mention Phil is probably worth more money than everyone that thinks they are more qualified, and a better therapist put together.)

Now I'm not saying that you need to dress or act like a greasy, pushy salesperson, and I'm not saying you shouldn't be the best at what you do. Far from it. What I am saying is that being the best is not enough by itself. You also need the best marketing. (I hear Oprah is good at that…) Nobody can be influenced by your awesome knowledge if they don't know you exist.

What would you say if I told you your marketing should create a buzz around your product or service?

Would you tell me you're already trying to, or that you already knew that?

Would you ask me how?

The truth is, your marketing SHOULD NOT be attempting to create a buzz. It is barely possible, not to mention insanely expensive to do so…

Many marketing geniuses have used the phrase "Enter the conversation the customer is already having in their head" to describe what we should try to do.

To expand on this concept a little bit I will paraphrase Eugene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising: "Marketing cannot create mass desire, it can only direct or channel existing desire to a particular product. It would be impossible for one advertiser to spend enough money to create mass desire, he can only exploit it, and many have died trying to run against it."

If you are an auto manufacturer and the market is clamoring for compact fuel efficient vehicles, you can't advertise enough to sell them all Hummers. Yes there will be a niche of people still looking for them, but you'd better not have a business model that requires you to sell millions of units if you want to base your whole business on them.

This is not to say that the vehicle the market wants is better or more logical choice than the vehicle you are selling, but any attempt to change their mind is entering the realm of educating them rather than marketing. And attempting to educate the population against their will is almost impossible and again, very very expensive. (Have you ever tried to convince a teenager of something?)

Always remember: You Are Not Your Customer!

Any discrepancy between what the customer wants to buy and what you want to sell them will not work out well for you. Given this situation you have two options… You can change what you are selling, or you can change who you are trying to sell it to.

Either of these options can work wonders for the health of your business. Are they easy? Maybe not at first, but the hardest part is already over. If you sit down and realize you have been making the mistake of focusing on what you want to sell not what your customer wants to buy it will hurt. However,once that initial pain goes away you will realize how much easier the rest of your business life will be when you are selling people things they actually want.

(Not to mention your competition will probably continue on the way they always have, clawing for every sale, constantly dropping their prices, and not realizing how much better life could be…)

"Bring me the best deals you find anywhere and I will beat their prices, no questions asked…"

"We're slashing prices, and destroying the competition…"

Does this sound anything like your current marketing strategy?

Do you spend your time chipping away at your costs, trying to find ways to lower expenses so you can beat your competitions price?

If having the lowest price is your current marketing strategy, and you aren't the CEO of WalMart, you need to STOP reading this right now, contact me as soon as is humanly possible, buy every thing I can sell you, and get to work immediately! Seriously, you might go broke in the time it takes you to read the rest of this article…

Okay, so I wasn't being totally serious… But all joking aside, you are far better off spending your energy (and money) figuring out how you can provide enough value to charge the highest price in your industry than you are figuring out how you can be the cheapest…

Without even knowing what business you are in, I am willing to bet that all of your competition is fighting over the bottom end of the market. That is a terrible way to operate because someone will always come along who will do it for less. (You don't usually hear about the high end businesses with fantastic service being forced to close their doors when WalMart announces they are coming to town)

You don't have to have the lowest price if you have the best marketing. Don't worry, it shouldn't be too tough, remember most marketing sucks… (And with higher margins you can afford even better marketing. Or you can work less, some people like that idea too)

Yes I admit that it's not easy to go against the popular opinion and raise your prices when everyone is telling you how tough the times are, and how bad the economy is, but that's exactly what you should do.

BUT, WAIT A MINUTE… you might not be able to successfully jack your prices up if you've been fighting to be known as the cheapest in town. If you want to break the image of the "big discount guy" you'll first have to start presenting yourself in a way that makes you seem worth the extra cash.

The good news is, if you realize the value in putting in the same effort and making a whole bunch more money I know this guy with a marketing company that can help you do that…;)

When speaking to business owners who are unhappy with their marketing there are usually 2 types.

Type 1: The owner who doesn't have time to worry about their marketing

Type 2: The owner who doesn't think they are creative enough to handle their marketing.

The first type needs a simple and easy to follow system for identifying their target market, creating an irresistible offer, getting that offer in front of those people, measuring the results, and tweaking/optimizing them as necessary. I know where they can get one of those, but that's not what I'm talking about today.

I'm here to talk to the second type of business owner. The type that thinks you have to have grown up as the "super creative artist" type person to come up with a good advertisement for your business. Let me tell you, that is certainly not the case. The ad agencies that focus strictly on the creative merit of an advertisement generally do so in an attempt to win awards for themselves rather than help your business make money.

Just to catch you up in case you haven't read anything else I have written: The goal of marketing is to get people to give you money. Building a brand is a pleasant side effect, but once again, THE ONLY GOAL of marketing is to get people to give you money.

Sure, your imagination is a wonderful tool to use when you are coming up with advertising ideas, but you don't need to see yourself as an artist or creative super genius to write an effective ad. You don't even have to be especially intelligent to go through this process. (In fact, parts of it will be easier if you aren't too swift)

As with almost anything in life, effective marketing can be broken down into a simple step by step process.

1. Figure out who we are selling to (or should be selling to)…

2. Figure out what we are going to offer them…

3. Figure out how we can best get our offer in front of them…

And of course each one of those steps are made up of lots of little steps to make them as easy as possible. Later, we add tracking our results and making adjustments to our ads as necessary… YES, it's really that simple.

In closing, I am not trying to insult any artists, or superstar advertising executives. What I AM doing is trying to save hard working business owners from falling into the traps created by the many marketing myths that exist out there.

Is there any reason the new business failure rate should be so high?

"Radio advertising doesn't work, there's too much competition"

"Newspaper ads don't work, no one reads the paper anymore…"

Sound familiar?

It is a big mistake to think that the media you use to advertise is the problem. What we normally think of as an ineffective way of advertising is more likely an issue with your targeting or your message.

Targeting. If you are selling a product for deaf people, and you are running a lot of radio advertisements, that is a poor choice on your part, not an indication that the radio doesn't work anymore… If you are trying to market your business to homeless people, it doesn't matter how good your advertising is because they don't have any money. (Selecting the right target market is the foundation of the Marketing Master System, we'll go into more detail later)

Message. Your ad could be reaching an enormous group of your perfect customers and still not generate a sale because your message sucks. Giving them details about you and your business instead of focusing on the benefit or result to the customer is just "getting your name out there" and we already know that's a waste of money… Again, we'll go into more detail about creating a great offer later on, for now let's just understand that a great advertisement is a great advertisement and will work almost anywhere.

A good ad written on the rubber mat at the bottom of a men's room urinal is better than most multimillion dollar Super Bowl ads!

Now you may be thinking, "Wait a minute, that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard…" but bear with me.

Obviously Super Bowl ads are seen by more people than an ad in a urinal, but Super Bowl ads are stupidly expensive and focus more on trying to be funnier or more creative than all of the other stupidly expensive ads. Rarely do they convince the viewer to take any sort of action that results in them giving the advertiser some money. (And of course you remember that the goal of marketing is to get people to give you money) Compare that to a simple ad at the bottom of a urinal (sorry ladies you'll just have to imagine) that says something like "If your gut is too big to see this call 1 800 *** **** for your free report on easy 6 pack abs". Obviously the message changes based on the product, but the urinal ad is hundreds of thousands of times cheaper than the Super Bowl spot, it has a captive (and hopefully less distracted) audience, and involves a direct response from the customer.

Focusing your marketing on getting your name out there or building your brand is fine if you are running a billion dollar company, but for the rest of us it's like jumping out of an airplane and trying to sew yourself a parachute on the way down… Chances are you aren't going to make it. Sure, the BIG companies can do it, but most of us don't have piles of money big enough to land in if something goes wrong.

Building a brand by advertising is not efficient, our goal has to be to generate a response from our target audience. Rather than creating ads that say "Hey look at us, we're over here, look what we can do, we're the best!" Your advertising should say "Hey you with the problem, we understand your situation, call this number by Tuesday and we can make it better…"

In the first type of ad, we are counting on people to remember us, and think of our business the next time they might need something. It's really hard to tell if these ads are working because we aren't asking them to respond. If the ad works we don't really realize it, if the ad doesn't work we still don't realize it, and we go out of business. (Whether it works or it doesn't we've spent a lot of money, so at least the people selling the ads aren't going out of business.) In the second type of ad we can count how many people call between now and Tuesday. If people call and give us more money than we spent on the ad it was successful. If they don't we know to stop spending our money on it and test something else.

So why do most people focus on the brand building type of advertising?

Because it's what the ad people sell us of course. And why wouldn't they? It's easier for them not to have actual measurable results to answer for, and it's what everybody else is doing so most of them don't know any better…

Now don't get me wrong, I love ad reps. If you have ever dealt with a good one, you know that they are worth their weight in gold. But you have to make sure they understand that the ads you run are going to have to generate revenue not just "get your name out there". Yes, it might take a little more work up front, but once you find an ad that works you will have that much more money to spend running it more often.