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
Comments (5)
May 05 2010
