How is marketing and advertising just like going on a diet? Find out in the next marketing minute.
If you’re running away from the future, man, you’re going to get caught up in the past.
Your marketing and advertising is just like being on a diet. You can’t start and then stop. Because what happens when you start the diet? You work out your meal plans and then you just give up because you think that you’ve got it all. You think you know it or you know what to do. About four years ago, I went on a diet program through this company here in town. And what the company promised was kind of a one-to-one approach and they like kind of have you build a better relationship with food, instead of you consuming food, just because you wanted to. You kind of had a better relationship and an understanding of food and what it does for you. And when I did this diet, I lost about 26 pounds, I want to say, in about two months. Now, when I was on that diet, what I did was I learned more about calories, carbs, what I should eat, what I shouldn’t intake.
And what I ended up doing was, I started reading the labels more, I started to understand more. And the losing the 26 pounds was kind of a result of just having a better relationship with food, and having a better understanding of food. And I was so happy, and, you know, I’d drop a couple sizes in my pants, and my shirts, my clothes fit me better. I had a little more energy. And then I end up losing over 30 pounds.
So I lost over 30 pounds. You couldn’t tell me anything. And I had felt like the things that I had done, that I’d helped form a habit in me, I felt like I had it. And I started thinking I don’t need that company anymore. Why do I need to pay them, because I know it, I know the diet, I understand it, I get it. I’ve already learned what I should do, and what I shouldn’t do, what I should eat, what I shouldn’t eat, when’s the best time to eat. I felt like I knew these things already. So what did I do? I stopped the diet. I immediately stopped the diet, because I started thinking I have it, I don’t need these folks anymore. I don’t need to go there and weigh in, get the injection shots, or take their meal plans anymore, because I felt like I had it; but the truth is I didn’t. I tried to do it on my own, and I just couldn’t do it.
And what I had done is the same thing I see a lot of business owners and advertisers do all the time, they get off their diet. So what happens, and what I mean by their diet is, they advertise and they get some success, or, you know, for a month or for a quarter, two months, three months, and they get very, very comfortable, like I did, when I lost those 26 pounds. When I lost those 26 pounds, you couldn’t tell me anything, and at some point, I started to think it was me, it wasn’t the diet that was getting me healthier.
That same thing correlates to how the business owner was, or how the business owner is. They do a campaign, they have some success, they boast a little. And then they start believing like, okay, I have it, I don’t need that thing anymore, that I started doing anymore. They take their foot off the gas, and then what happens? They lose their place. They lose their footing. A lot of times, they lose their footing within the market, but what happens is, they lose sight of the things that got them there. They fell off the wagon. They got off their marketing diet and what happens when you get off your diet? You lose.
And that’s what happens. I see it so many times, where advertisers think, oh, I don’t need to do that anymore. Well, that thing was great. Six months ago they get some success, they’re happy, the business is going. They don’t have a care in the world. And then they want to trim some expenses, so they get rid of that thing, that they think now they don’t need any more, that they used before, and, now, they’re scrambling for help.
They’ve gained that weight again, or in the business sense, they’ve lost their footing. And now they’re scrambling to get themselves back to where they were, and they want to try and bring in any vendor, who can give them the next idea. And then what they start doing is, they start looking for the silver bullet. The same way I did, when I was on that diet. So now the business owner’s looking for a silver bullet. He’s looking for the next idea, the next agency that can come in and wave their magic wand, and get him business again, or help him lose weight, if you’re taking it back to the diet.
So now every agency that comes in now is an expert. He falls for whatever it is to help him get back to where he was, and now what he’s doing is, he’s having to work harder to get back into the shape that he was in before. So I guess the moral of this story, and, I guess if you want to look at this as a Daily Development is, pay attention to your diet. Don’t always try and cut your diet short, and take care of your marketing campaign.
This is Eric from VIP Marketing. Don’t forget to log onto our website at veryimportantplacement.com. On our website, we answer questions, and you can also sign up for a weekly newsletter, the Marketing Minute, where we give free advice to advertisers all across the country. This is your Daily Development.