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The mysteries of the universe – explained by socks
Just behind my local laundromat is a portal to a parallel universe. I know this because every time I collect my service wash, there is a sock missing. Never a full pair and never any other item of clothing, only ever an odd sock.
I can only assume that in the parallel universe, there is a parallel me who keeps finding extra socks – MY socks – in his parallel wash.
There is another rift in the space-time continuum (as Mr Spock might put it) on my desk. I put something down, glance away, and when I look back just a moment later, it’s disappeared. Into thin air, apparently.
This hardly matters when it’s the stapler, or the hole punch or a pen. But it’s as frustrating as heck when it’s a client’s marketing plan, or a PR programme or a presentation or some similar important document I’ve been working on. Weirdly, the missing items always re-appear as suddenly and mysteriously as they disappeared. And, bizarrely, in the place they’re supposed to be. It’s as if they pop back into existence when my back is turned.
These unusual incidents have taught me two important business lessons:
- Sometimes, no matter how organised you are, stuff just happens that can’t be predicted or planned for. We just have to accept them… embrace them, even… and if possible, always have a Plan B in the back pocket. Just in case.
- When inanimate objects disappear mysteriously, shouting abuse at the place they’ve disappeared from doesn’t make a scrap of difference.
Running
Went to my first triathlon. Not to take part, obviously – I get tired running a bath, never mind a triathlon! I was there to learn about my new events company client.
Check out my new NAKED video
(No, not that kind of naked! Sorry to disappoint)
Are you overlooking a cheaper, better way to advertise?
A couple of display ads in your local newspapers or business magazine will set you back a few hundred pounds. That’s money you gamble on the off-chance that someone out there will just happen to be looking for what you just happen to be selling on the infrequent occasion that you just happen to advertise it.
Did you realise that for the same level of investment, you can have 12 months’ worth of free advertising in the form of publicity, promotion and public relations that’ll keep your business name, products and brand in front of your customers and the people you’d like to have as customers?
Public Relations isn’t just for the “big boys”. It’s available to anyone in business to build into their marketing and business growth strategies. It’s an extremely effective way not only to talk about your products and services in a targeted and controlled way that focuses directly on customers and the people you’d like to have as customers, but it’s also a means to enhance reputation, deliver your message to your market, build brand awareness, reinforce reputation and even create sales enquiries and acquire new customers. Yet it is frequently overlooked as a business-building tool by smaller enterprises in the mistaken belief that good quality PR is only affordable and accessible to larger organisations.
Properly planned and managed publicity and PR is one of the most effective ways to promote and grow your business for nothing, or next to nothing. I’m not suggesting that businesses should dump their advertising, but I am saying that a programme of targeted PR can do more to promote and grow a business than a couple of display ads.
To prove the point, The NAKED Marketing Company is offering a year’s worth of targeted PR for about the equivalent cost of a couple of display ads, so that owners and managers can assess – maybe for the first time – the value of PR against the cost of their advertising. The offer is available now. Call 07549 153391 for more information.
What can you do when a potential customer decides NOT to buy?
You’ve worked hard to make the sale, been attentive and helpful, dealt with all their objections and yet – just when you were about to “close” the sale – your potential customer decides not to buy. And maybe you don’t really understand what put them off – was it the price? The product? Was it something you said or did?
Find out what you can do to prevent people walking away from the sale in the April issue of the NAKED newsletter. Out April 3.
