It’s time to stop blaming everyone for our egos.

Here’s a harsh truth: Most marketing strategies are doomed to fail. Want to know why? Probably not… But if you are like us you have tried multiple ways, some more expensive than others, to advertise or market yourself only to face massive unresponsiveness and failure.

It sucks. But a little self-reflection helps. If you take a good hard look at what you’ve tried and/or are currently trying, does it really give people a reason to want to deal with you? To call you? To contact you? To trust you?

Marketing sales people — you know, that person who has “Marketing Associate Expert” on their business card — who sells you on who will see your logo on that park bench, banner ad, or rink board… and then vanishes into thin air after you sign (yeah, them)… They love to work our egos, getting to buy based on our own vanity and our selfish need to see our name in lights.

Ready to hear a big secret? The biggest secret in all of marketing? No one cares about your brand, your logo, your name, or anything about you. Sorry. All of those things need to be earned. Now I know what you’re saying to yourself right now: “That doesn’t apply to us, we are a trusted company that’s been around for blah blah blah…”. Nobody cares. You are literally celebrating your success within a small amount of people that you have already earned the trust of. That being said, well done! But it represents a literal tiny fraction of the opportunity that’s out there for your business.

A couple things:

1. If you are completely satisfied with the business you have and you rely solely on word of mouth for your business, that’s amazing and a huge congratulations to you. Now please stop reading this. This is not for you.
2. In Canada, there’s a 60/40 split when people search online for a business. 60% of people who do a search online have a specific business name in mind before they even search (via word of mouth, a returning client, etc.). 40% of people have a need for a business or service and do not have a name in mind. They don’t even know you exist.

For that 40% of customers who don’t know you, you should be laser-focused on two things:

1. Getting your business found where and when they’re looking, and creating ads that entice them to engage with your business
2. Post. Click. Conversion. This is the number one reason marketing fails. We, as business owners, do not take the time to create and update a website that tells people what you do for them. All too often, websites are about how amazing we are, or how much better than competitors we are… blah blah blah. Nobody cares.

Focus on Post Click Conversion and create a website (or update your existing site) to tell people what you will do for them and speak to why and how you will do it. If you give people a reason to call you they will. You wouldn’t go on a first date and talk for two hours about yourself, would you? (I mean, you might, but you’re not getting a second date if you do.)

Don’t believe us? Test it out for yourself. It won’t hurt. It’s easy. Try different ways to relay information on your website in a fashion that people will care about. Ask questions to your audience and encourage them to contact you. Put your phone number, contact form, and email address everywhere. Don’t make it difficult for people to contact you! Show your website to friends, family, peers, and ask them for tips. Let go of your ego.

If you truly own the responsibility of finding out what happens when people visit your website, you will have a lot more success marketing your business.