When you are learning how to administer CPR, they also teach you how to call for help. The instructors warn you to never, ever scream, “Call 911” into a crowd.
Their reasoning is sound: everyone will think you are talking to everyone else. And nobody will call. Instead, they advise you to pick one person out of the crowd, and say, “You — in the yellow shirt and black pants.. call 911.”
Please know that the same is true for your marketing, which is why in 2009, I wrote Mr. Mass Marketing’s obituary HERE. When you yell into a crowded room — as is the case with MOST marketing efforts — you will be ignored while everyone assumes you’re talking to everyone else.
This is why I recommend INVITATIONAL marketing: Sending a personalized invite to your ideal prospects… calling to them by name… or at least by situation. Let me give you a couple examples from my business alone:
Women Who WOW networking events began about 4 years ago. How did you know about them? You received a PRINT invitation in the mail. It felt (and was and is) exclusive… special… exactly for them.
My income intensives for the expert market is also filled by invitation. How do you know it’s for you? You are expressly invited to attend – by me. Many people ASK about the next intensive, because the copy on www.thebrokecoach.com calls out to them specifically — by situation.
Restaurant owners, coaches, chiropractors, accountants, insurance salesman, and teeth whiteners could and should be doing the same thing…. for dramatically increased results.
Why post a blog and HOPE the right people see it? Why not send it to twenty five ideal prospects with a note just for them? Invite.
Why post a special and HOPE people see it and respond? Email people individually and let them know you hope they take advantage of the special offer. Invite.
Why put up a sign advertising a clearance sale or new menu? Email your past customers and invite them to come by to shop, to sample, to visit… Invite.
Invite. Invite. Invite.
It seems like the MAIN sales objection we hear these days is NOT audible. It is a thought… an assumption… a false conclusion that [whatever you’re selling] “isn’t for me.” So, INVITE your prospects to take a look at something that IS for them. Call them out by name. Let them know you’re talking expressly, exactly, specifically to them.
Invitational marketing. It changes things, increases response, and pads your bottom line. There’s simply NO substitute for it.
Thanks for inviting me to read this 😀 . As always, sage advice for marketing and business!