Apr

10

Marketing for the deer-in-the-headlights crowd

April 10, 2008 |

One of the great conundrums of the microbusiness universe is how many of us (a) hate marketing and (b) hate sales.

Hating one of those is bad enough but hating both … well, hey! How do you think you’re going to make any money without letting people know you’re there and asking them, in one way or another, to buy something from you.

It doesn’t really matter what you make/do/sell, somebody somewhere makes/does/sells the same thing. If they are less bashful than you are, then you don’t need me to explain why the customers go elsewhere.

That said, people living in the advertising-riddled US of A these days are sick to death of constantly being pitched to. Well, aren’t you?

So, for those of us who have a special deer-in-the-headlights expression we like to wear when the topics of sales and marketing come up, it might behoove us to find another way to think about the whole thing.

For example, how about marketing as dating? (Hats off to Mary, who can look at almost anything and find lessons for us business owners and who also has the enviable talent of being able to speak dove.)

It’s been awhile since I was a part of the dating scene (although, from what I hear from my college freshman daughter, times haven’t changed all that much), but I do know that one of the fastest ways to cause a would-be significant other to run screaming for the hills was to come as one of those ultra-needy, clingy, desperate types.

On the other hand, I think I mentioned to you that I’ve been reading shojo manga (Japanese girls’ comics — something else I’m not supposed to be doing at my age) and have occasionally come across the sort of hero that makes you wish that (a) you were 30 years younger and (b) American boys were like that.

The one I have in mind is quiet and kind of shy but he (a) always mysteriously shows up at the girl’s side at just the right moment, (b) doesn’t gush but shows very clearly in lots of little ways that it’s important to him to make the girl happy, and (c) is very determined to do whatever he need to do so he doesn’t lose her. That’s the sort of thing that can make a girl feel special.

It’d go a long way toward making a customer feel special, too.

Think about it.

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Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Mary Schmidt on April 10, 2008 2:50 pm

    Hmm…Manga Marketing, I like it!

    (And, really, it does sound like the doves are crying PLEASE! OH PLEASE! - but then I have a highly developed sense of whimsy…something else I don’t think us grown-ups are supposed to have…) ;-)

  2. The Journal Blogger on April 14, 2008 11:24 am

    “Manga Marketing” - Mary, you crack me up!

  3. How to Get More Customers (Even If You Hate Selling) « Andrea Goulet on April 21, 2008 8:22 pm

    […] Marketing For the Deer-in-the-Headlights Crowd - by Dawn Rivers Baker […]

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