Metaphorical Marketing

Have you ever considered how much marketing your business is like dating?

While talking business with a friend of mine who manages a chain of pawn brokers, we came to the conclusion that marketing your business is just like dating.

Don't see the connection? Let me help you out by asking you a few questions.

Firstly: Lets assume you're "on the market", you're looking for the one for you- the one that'll make you happy, keep you company and satisfy all your needs.

Well, your customers are looking for "the one", too... they're after the business that will be honest with them, show them they care, and fill all of their unique needs. Can you honestly say that your business is it? Is your business "the one"?

Since our customers are out there looking for their perfect partner, have you dressed your business up & got it looking nice? Does it give a good first impression? Does it let your customers know what it likes to do, what it does best... and perhaps what it won't do and refuses to be involved in? Is your business singling out the exact customers it wants and serves best, and at the same time telling the rest of the hopefuls that they simply won't find what they need here? Its important that you do.

So, if you're looking at your business in the same way you look at yourself when you're on the prowl, then you're probably doing o.k. already. But what are the most important parts of getting noticed by a member of the opposite sex (or future clients)? I've already mentioned first impressions- and we're going to speak some more about them because they're so important.

With that in mind, who in your business creates those first impressions? Are they giving off good vibes? Are they chirpy when they answer the phone, or do they sound like they're completely uninterested & wish the client would go bother another business? Are they positioning your business as a professional, in demand organization that might be able to squeeze a date in next wednesday morning? Or are they making you look desperate, willing to go to bed with any old thing that walks in the door?

The same metaphor can be extended to the appearance of your business. Are you all dressed up, ready to look your best for your first date (read first client contact)? Or does it look like you just crawled out of bed after an all nighter with your friends at a smoke filled bar? More specifically, how do your marketing materials look? Is your website looking like an armani suit? Are your flyers so hot your clients can't wait to tell their friends? And are your sales letters making your clients itch to pick up the phone and call you? If not, it may be time to look at these materials in a new light. The light of a date with your perfect date (customer)!

Tune in again soon for some more highly useful, eerily accurate analogies involving marketing and dating.