Marketing Your Mousetrap

Marketing is Essential. This is an important concept to grasp. You must market your business in order to grow it. You may have incredible services, but if they’re not being marketed appropriately, well… few people may ever hear about how great your company is.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted with, if a man can make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, the world will make a beaten path to his door. Do something better than the next guy and you’ll be successful, right? It’d be great if it were that easy. With today’s saturated markets, it takes more effort to stand out of the crowd to your customers, regardless of how great your product and services are. Success requires a strategy to let your customers know who you are, what you do and why they should choose you instead of your competition.

There’s no need to be an advertising guru to market your products or services effectively. Keep these tips in mind to help maximize your visibility in the marketplace.

• Be concise. Avoid unnecessary wordiness. Many people have short attention spans when it comes to advertisements and sales pitches. Know what you’re going to say before you say it. Get to the point and get on with it.

• Proofread everything. Nothing looks more unprofessional than typos. Typos are not only unsightly, but can be costly to fix if your copy has already been sent to press or posted on your website. Avoid these mistakes at all costs!

• Start proofing from the last sentence and work your way to the first. Reading this way forces you to work in a way your brain is not expecting and you’ll catch easily overlooked errors.

• Have someone with “fresh eyes” look over your work after you’ve proofread..

• Re-read it yourself.

• Know your target audience. Understand who you’re really talking to.

• What is their average education level? Are you pitching your work on their level?

• What do they read or watch on TV? Can you capitalize on that?

• Are the majority of your customers male or female? How can you change your current advertising to take maximum effect of knowing this?

• Who’s making the final decision when it comes to purchasing your products or services? Make your pitches appeal to these people to achieve better results with your sales and advertising.

• Think like your customer. Your customer doesn’t care to hear about how big your company is are or how much you spent on your latest whiz-bang gadgetry. They want to know what’s in it for them. Clearly explain how the customer will benefit by working with your company.

• Demand action. The slickest ads or the most cutting-edge website won’t do a hill of beans of good if there is no clearly defined call to action. Let customers know they must “call now” or “visit the website” about a special promotion.

• Brand your company! Work with a designer to create a unique logo and look just for you. Use this logo on everything you produce:

• Business cards

• Stationary

• Invoices

• Vehicles

• Print and online ads

• Uniforms

• Follow-up and thank you cards

You’ve now turned all these items into your company’s calling cards.

• Have a website designed for your company. Your doors may only be open from 9 to 5, but a well designed website is essentially a salesperson that works for you 24/7! Not only that, but with a properly marketed website, you can easily increase your exposure from local to global.

• List your business with Google. Many of your would-be customers do their research online now. Not too long ago, a good phone book ad was all you needed to bring customers to your business. Today’s consumers tend to be more Internet savvy; make sure you’re exposing your services online as well! Google has a host of free services available to help increase your business’ Internet presence.

So, make a better mousetrap and the world will make a beaten path to your door, right? Not really. Even as perfect as Emerson’s idea was, he didn’t get it quite right. It was nearly three decades after his death that he was credited with that line.

What he actually said was, “If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs than anybody else, you will find a broad beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.” A great point indeed… But would you remember all that?

Emerson’s mousetrap quote that we remember coining today was actually only attributed to him; written by an ad copywriter 28 years after his death! Follow this month’s marketing pointers to avoid any delay making history with your business.