Why Business Onwers So Often Fail With Their Marketing
There is a common reason why so many service business owners fail when it comes to marketing their businesses. Paddington Bear can help you to understand why this happens so much.
Do you remember the story of the bear found in Paddington Station that loved to eat Marmalade Sandwiches? Paddington Bear was an old favourite of mine.
When Paddington made a comeback on the big screen, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, mostly because my kids would not let me take them, but also because the images I have created in my mind over the many years that I was a Paddington fan in my early years were simply too strong. I could not associate my Paddington Bear with the movie star that was being created.
Sometimes the image we have in our mind of how bad something is going to be stops us from seeing or doing something which we might really enjoy or that might be good for us or for our business.
Not only is this the case with bears arriving at Paddington Station, but often also with something which would or could be amazingly good for our business, but which we stop ourselves from doing because the image we have already painted in our mind has persuaded us that it is simply not worth spending the time investigating the matter in question.
We prime ourselves to fail.
Let’s think about a marketing tactic. On paper, you think it should work for your business, after all, your nearest competitors do this, so maybe it can work for you. However, after a little more thought, you decide to ignore it. Why?
Well, perhaps someone you know tried it once and put you off it, or you tried it half-heartedly and, not surprisingly, it failed.
I say not surprisingly because in my experience, unless a business owner commits to making something work well for their business, and says that it will work, it is almost bound to fail.
I adapted Henry Ford’s quote of “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are probably right”, to this:
Whether you say you can, or say you can’t, you are probably right.
I know that if a business owner says out loud “That won’t work for me Nick”, they will be proved right. Whether consciously or sub consciously, they will go out of their way to ensure that it fails.
What a shame.
Often marketing tactics which would be perfect for a business are discarded and discounted by the owner because of this modified Henry Ford quotation.
You see, whilst I do not proclaim to be a brain expert, I am now old enough and wise enough in business and life in general to know that the brain produces for you whatever you tell it to. So if you say “This will not work for me” your brain will ensure that you get what you ask for. When you say some months later “I knew that would never work for my business” you can then pat yourself on the back. The brain, seeing that you are happy with the failed result that you requested in the first place, also pats itself on the back for a job well done. You are both happy in creating your miserable situation. Job. Well. Done.
I have seen this time and time again. It is not a fluke. Unless you wholeheartedly commit to a marketing tactic when you agree to test it, nine times out of ten you will fail to achieve success; well the success that comes from actually getting a good result anyway. You get the success of the bad result that you asked for, but that’s not really success, is it.
You have to commit to making something work, then tell yourself out loud that it will work, because it has to! Then guess what. Your brain will go out of its way to make it work for you. It may take a few weeks or months, but it will work. It has to. Your brain will keep working away at it to ensure that that is the case.
With this in mind, where do you stand on the topic of email marketing and email marketing newsletters?
Have you tried and failed them in your own business, as you told yourself you would, or are you getting by without really setting the world alight?
Email newsletters should be an integral part of every service business owners marketing mix. They work, and work really well.
An email newsletter does three main things for your business:
- It convinces people of your expertise;
- It keeps your name in front of them so that they have not forgotten you by the time that they next need your service; and
- It sells your services to people who already know, like and trust you, meaning that chat about your price rarely ever happens, and if it does, you are quickly able to justify your reasonable prices instead of reducing them.
Do those three things sound like something that would be a benefit to your business?
Would you like prospects and old customers calling you up and asking you to do some work for them the price of your choosing?
Would it be helpful if every time you sent out an email to your email marketing newsletter list that the phone rang and your business bank balance increased?
Wouldn’t it be nice to receive a recommendation for your services from someone who has never actually used you but has told their contact to use you because they receive your regular email newsletters and you really are experts in your field?
I hope that I have proved that an email marketing newsletter should be one of your regular email marketing tactics if it is not already.
If I have, you will like my next post, which will explain the best day and the best way to start your email marketing newsletter.
If you want to do some legwork before then, sign up with AWeber for their email marketing software, the same software that I have used to deliver this email to you.
Here is the link for AWeber :>>
You can also sign up for my email marketing newsletter course below:
Free Book – The Only 4 Methods You Need To Instantly Attract New Clients To Your Service Business – Click Here:>>