Category — Ideal Customers

A firm that markets to dentists sent a friend of mine the following email on Facebook:

New Patients from Facebook?

On Facebook:

• There are more than 500 million potential patients.

• You can target your patients by location and age.

• You can test and use what works.

• You set the daily budget you are comfortable with.

More info here (then it gives contact details)

Talking to the wrong people

Really? 500 million. Gee, my friend is gonna need a bigger office!

But seriously, this makes no sense. Does anyone go to Facebook looking for a dentist? No. When you need a dentist, and don’t know one, you ask your friends.

And how is my friend supposed to fill cavities for people who live 100 or 200 or 3000 miles away? Has this firm invented the virtual dentist?

Interruption, not permission

My dentist friend doesn’t want these emails. Yet, the company sending them doesn’t care (and I guess Facebook doesn’t either).

He, (and anyone else wanting to grow their business, is much better off using permission marketing to build a fan base of people who WANT to hear from him.

Numbers instead of niches

It doesn’t matter how many people are on Facebook. Numbers don’t matter. What does matter is reaching people who actually need/want your services, and who you can help. You cannot clean someone’s teeth if they’re in London and you’re in Philadelphia. You want to reach the right people, not just any people.  You can’t make money selling water skis to a list of 1,000,000 people who live in the desert.

Marketing like this is painful – both for you and your potential clients.  You won’t make money, and they’ll get mad at you (instead of wanting to do business with you).  Kinda like root canal (which, thankfully, I’ve never had).

Share your thoughts

Have you tried Facebook marketing?  What happened? Have you gotten any silly emails like my friend did?

Image: Wikimedia

Image via Wikipedia

I was about to start typing today’s post when the phone rang. The woman was talking so fast I could hardly understand her (and I’m from New York, where we all talk really fast).

Me: “Whoa, slow down. What is it?”

Caller: “It’s about your merchant account.”

Me: “I don’t have one.”

Caller: “But you want one.”

Me: “No.”

Click.

You can have a great marketing plan. You can identify a niche market, build an ideal client profile, and select the best ways to reach them.

But, it will all fail if you’re not solving their problem, rather than yours.

Someone at the company where this woman works decided that they wanted to reach businesses like mine.  They created a marketing plan, hired people, and started calling.  They never stopped to think whether I needed what they were selling.

I don’t want a merchant account. I’m not a retailer. Paypal is fine.

Before you start selling your idea, see if your audience wants it.  Otherwise, you could end up with a bra dryer or nail polish for cats.

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A long time ago (the baby girl is now a teenager), I went to a friend’s baby shower. Her other friends got her lots of lacy dresses, a bassinet full of bows, plenty of frills all around.

I, on the other hand, got her something completely different. It was a sporty outfit from The Gap. I think it may have come with baby-sized sunglasses.

Why? Because I knew my “customer.” My friend just wasn’t a ruffles and lace kinda gal. She hated all those frills.

Her other friends got her what they liked. I got her something she would like.

It’s OK to do what you like if your audience is just like you (for example, you’re a geek marketing to other geeks). However, if you’re a geek marketing to lawyers, you’ll need to understand what lawyers want and need. You’ll have to learn to speak a bit of legalese, and watch your use of tech speak. You may be excited about new server software. The lawyer just wants to know that her network will stop crashing. Sell the software as a solution to the crashing, not as super-cool new software with redundant backups and offsite mirroring.

See the difference?

Develop a profile of your ideal customer. Know what they want, and give it to them. They’ll love you for it. They’ll stay longer too.

If you’re looking at a razor or a kitchen knife, an edge is important. A sharp edge will remove a beard or cut carrots. A dull one will cut you (because you push harder).

Having a sharp, clear edge is important in business too. It’s what makes you different, worth talking about. The knife in the picture is memorable because of the shape and the handle – it LOOKS sharp.

For example, the Shake Shack in New York City (expanding soon nationwide) is “fast food” with a difference. The beef is ground daily. the lettuce and tomatoes are local, and the beer is brewed just for them. Their edge: local and handmade.

Henry Ford’s edge was to use an assembly line to make cars quickly. They still do. Rolls Royce, on the other hand makes cars very slowly. A Ford takes hours to assemble. A Rolls requires about three months.

An edge can be faster, slower, much safer (Volvo’s edge), the most dangerous, special treatment, great service (Zappos), terrible service (the No-Name restaurant in Boston – where they make you wait a long time, crowd you in with strangers, and tell you what to eat).

What’s your edge?

Image thanks to: brenda starr

(i) by Seth Godin

Tomorrow:  cool tools!