Only two answers to that question…
… no and hell no.
I am continually dumbfounded by the ideas coming out of Washington to try to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
The business acumen of most of the politicians’ brains in Washington could pretty much fill a thimble.
Maybe that’s too harsh… let’s say a coffee mug.
What’s this have to do with marketing? Actually, a lot.
You see, the way D.C. tries to create economic growth is not unlike many with careers in the image advertising space. They have a canny combination of being Dumb and Complicated at the same time.
They present unproven, unsupported, and untrackable recommendations – and present it in such a long complicated, long-winded way, that you simply give up and say “well, they must know what they are doing.”
Here’s a hint for you… if someone cannot quickly explain key metrics that will show if a plan (or ad) IS working, or is not, then they don’t really have a smart plan for you.
The blind leading the blind…
I had an owner of a restoration company tell me that he has been paying TEN thousand a month in 4-color full-page ads with two local directories.
I asked him how many jobs he’s gotten from the ads – and he said none. In THREE years, none.
You do the math.
“But I need to be in the yellow pages… and the rep insists that when the flood happens they will choose my 2 page spread over the others.”
For that kind of money, the YP rep should be going through neighborhoods busting pipes for the guy.
And that rep will continue to insist that he needs to be in those books to give impressions to the marketplace so they will recognize him as a reliable brand.
Pure horse doo-doo.
And I can’t get mad at the YP rep. He doesn’t know any better. “Success” to him is landing another big ad – not that his clients’ ads actually work at bringing in money.
The business owner though… I can get mad at him. That is a lot of money to be blindly paying with NO accountability, NO tracking, and NO results.
I don’t care how crazy-busy his business and life are… it’s his responsibility as a business owner to run his business, and manage his money, responsibly. If he can’t do that, then he needs to close his doors and go work for someone else man (or woman) enough to run a business right.
Waiting for some of that STIMULUS money?
Yeah, me neither.
I am one of those crazy entrepreneurs who prefers to work in the real world, and take actions to create real money.
Handouts are for sissies.
So – how to create your own stimulus? That’s easy – you need to employ a direct response marketing mindset throughout your entire company.
What does this mean? It means every action, every expense, needs to be taken to create a specific and immediate result.
You need to be MILITANT about every dollar you put into your marketing, and know exactly what return on investment you generate from every one.
If you have no idea where to start, here are a few suggestions for you:
1) Go to download “Seven Steps To A Successful Ad” – and use this FREE article to evaluate EVERY ad and marketing piece coming from your company. Marketing done correctly is an investment, not an expense. Properly executed, it will generate a constant growing cash flow for you.
2) If you are not using our Healthy Home Client Newsletter – then it’s time to take action on getting this started. This is Piranha’s #1 repeat and referral business generator for our members. You are LOSING thousands of dollars in jobs every month you put off getting this done.
3) If you want an education on direct response marketing and the importance of being a metrics junkie then you are going to love Joe Polish’s Genius Network interview with Marketing Powerhouse MaryEllen Tribby.
4) Finally, if you are looking for turn-key templates, campaigns, and ready-to-roll strategies to grow your cleaning or restoration company – take that wasted money you are putting into the yellow pages and put it into something that is guaranteed to generate jobs. Piranha has a complete Marketing Kit for Cleaners to remove all of the guesswork out of what to use, and all of it field-tested for cash creation performance.
5) Just do SOMETHING. Sitting around thinking about what to do gives an illusion that something is being done, when nothing is getting done. That’s a DC move – hold a bunch of press conferences to talk about how hard everyone is working. That is fake work. You want to see REAL work – then go follow a Piranha Member out making money by taking action.
If you want to talk to one of our business growth consultants, the Piranha Team is always happy to help entrepreneurs who want to work to grow their companies. Give us a call at 800-275-2643.
In fact, if you call our office for more information and mention this DC BLOG, they will give you a special (and free) business growth gift.
When they identify your biggest business need right now, we will make the gift specific to that area so it’s not some random, no thought item (that would be soooo D.C. to give you something you can’t even use…).
Look, I know I got political here. If you think my view of D.C. is not on target, let me know in a comment below. And if the stimulus has actually helped YOU – I want to know that also. It’s almost like a sighting of Big Foot… I just don’t believe it until I see it.
And I would NEVER let D.C. run my business. Unless I wanted it run into the ground.
- Lisa
Not only would I not let D.C. run my business I think they are at least partially responsible for many of the small business failures. We need term limits and to elect people that are going to use some restraint when spending our money. I forget who said it first but the best statement I heard so far is “Throw the Bums out”
Comment by Greg — February 11, 2010 @ 5:25 pm
To start, I am always amazed by the people who criticize the government on how the country is being ran.
We as people try to steal and do under handed things in business to get by everyday it seems like. The government is in place to keep us honest. Because you can trust a big major company like, Bank of America, Wall Street, Enron, GM, etc. etc. to do everything right by the people. Just where would we really be if government did not step in to keep the strong, fair and the weak, strong trying to acheive. I read this crap and wonder what is this going to achieve a better USA always criticizing and then going to church on Sunday and praying to GOD for a blessing. I talk to people that talk about the government and they can only say one or two things. 1) Everything government touches ends up failing. 2) I don`t want government in my business.
Without government we would not be the nation we are, you need government to keep the strong, honest and the weak, strong. People don`t have to let D.C. run your business you just have to let them have a chance to run things without everyone trying to rip the goverment off. You pay to live here and feel safe.
True, taxes are high and business is hard. But when you are over 2 million in debt in a business a little help is needed. Not everyone has low overhead, and not everyone is out asking everyone to market in a down economy. So that you can here well lets try something else, oh you know marketing you have to keep trying till something works. You really mean, keep spending till something works. Or try to find out a companies growth market at the beginning of the coversation. If growth does not exist and can not be tracked offer your services for free until you see growth, and see how long before your company needs a bail out.
The other thing is if you don`t like this country move to Cananda or somewhere, just leave this country.
Sincerely,
Comment by Todd — February 11, 2010 @ 5:42 pm
Great content.
I totally recommend everyone listen to the interview with MaryEllen Tribby.
Comment by Ron Preston — February 12, 2010 @ 7:21 pm
Thank you for the comments. I’m sorry to see Todd that you feel those in business “have to steal” to get by… you must be in a VERY different industry that the service sector.
Large businesses get into the same lack of accountbility trap as government does – thinking that are too big, and too powerful, to fail – so their ethics can disappear… and because everyone is doing it the same way in THEIR world, they forget how to do it right.
With small business, if you do not deliver on your word you lose your clients, and you go out of business – period. Again, small business has no safety net.
And the fact of the matter is, this money DC is planning on spending is YOUR and my future dollars – so we have a right to speak up and ask them to be responsible about spending it – and to point out when they do not know what the heck they are doing.
EVERYTHING in business needs to be trackable, period.
And like all entrepreneurs – when things are broken, we fix them. DC is broken and full of people who have little or no direct business experience – government is not the problem, their lack of tactical experience and money management knowledge is the problem.
What’s the solution? Maybe we should send them all to do a crash course in running a small company in their own small towns for 3 months and see what it is like in the real world, with real bills and real dollars – not the pretend money on paper.
That might be a good start.
Thanks Todd and Greg for the posts,
Lisa
Comment by Lisa Wagner — February 13, 2010 @ 9:16 am
The goverment didn’t make this country great, the constitution and the great people have made it great. It is not the governments job to run anyones business. Their job is infrastructure, foreign affairs and saftey falling under the military and federal law enforcement. The problem is to many people have become dependent on Sugar Daddy Uncle Sam to come in and save the day for them, if you have problems it is your business you fix it or go and get a job. I am amazed every time I hear some moron of a politician crying about AIG or some other bailout companies bonus payments. They authorized the govt. to give these companies billions of $$$ that we borrowed and then whine cause they don’t like the way it was spent. If I gave a homeless guy five bucks who was holding a sign that said hungry need food and he bought liquor with it what right do I have to moan about it I gave it to him he made the decission of what to do eith it.If I had my way no one would have gotten a dime and if they fail so be it. We are borrowing money from countries that are still developing capitalistic nations Russia comes to mind we owe them about $128 billion come on they just put their capitalist boat in the water 25 yrs ago. Brazil $125 bil. China & Japan $750 bill. each. Does that scare you any at all? And one more thing I keep hearing th president saying we are going to go bankrupt if the health care bill isn’t passed hmmm how does spending all all that money keep us going ah hah it will be collected with all the additional taxes we’ll have to pay that can’t be done without massive tax increases that everyone will pay.
Thanks for letting me vent
Bobby
Comment by Bobby — February 23, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
I wouldn’t let D.C. run my toilet!
Comment by I.A. — February 26, 2010 @ 10:01 am
Bunch of posers lining their pockets. We need to start a new system because this one is broke!
Comment by Richard — February 14, 2011 @ 2:45 pm