Good reminder from our friend, Seth Godin.
“Microsoft has fallen into a trap that befalls many…companies in search of cred, buzz or respect. They’ve decided to buy some via advertising.”
But you can’t get people to love you just because you spend big money advertising…even if it IS with Jerry Seinfield in the commercials. See here.
(Have you seen those ads? Too dumb for words…)
Neither can you succeed by getting “more traffic” to your site. If it isn’t the right kind, they will come and go in less than 5 seconds. Buy anything? Ha!
Neither can you succeed by screaming louder than the next person about how great your products are.
“If it is broken, more advertising, more traffic and louder screaming isn’t going to fix it.”
Who is the person you’re trying to reach? What is
the problem they have, that your product might fix?
Zero in on that. Then you can do ads that speak to THOSE folks. Write blogs and newsletters that describe the kinds of problems those folks have.
Next, you can ask for traffic – people visiting and reading your stuff – who agree they have a toothache of the kind your product/business might fix.
And the more specific, the better. “More money” or “better health” are too general to catch anyone’s attention. Besides, doesn’t EVERYONE already offer them that?
I rarely watch TV but I did see one of those Microsoft ads, and I all I could think was, “I just wasted three minutes of my life giving this nonsense my attention.”
Tracy
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Tracy Austin
Fortune