Warning! The first sentence of this could be offensive. Can YOU get past it, so that you can learn and Discover How to make YOUR small business grow?

written by john c ashworth

Are you getting the results you desire from your current social media marketing?  Probably not, here’s why…

Your marketing stinks.  

I know. 

Ridiculously harsh?

Maybe I’ve scared you away already.

Don’t take me the wrong way.  Many have been where you are today.  Including me. Trying to make a small business grow with marketing that stinks.  This is NOT personal.  This is about showing you the way.  

Keep reading.  

Keep coming back to the ash flash.  

Keep looking for the answers, because they lie in wait in all this prose and postulating.

This is NOT a reflection on you, your expertise, and your devotion to your mission to serve through your products and services. This is a reality check; and it's NOT for the Weak. If you’ve already departed, because my harsh words scared you or pissed you off, well…then I cannot help you fix this incredibly common problem. I mean, look around you. Most marketing stinks. Most marketing is a copycat of that which came before it. The same ad your competitor is running down the street with your photos and contact information instead of his. Most marketing you see, hear, feel and touch, is the equivalent of setting your money on fire. I mean it. It’s true. In fact, you’re probably still here because you know very well it’s true and you’re trying to figure out what you should do about it.

You have likely heard that old adage that says 50% of your marketing is working and the other 50% is NOT.  The problem is that you have no idea which half is which. Even more true is that the part that works probably doesn’t even come close to 50%.  That number is most often a lot lower than that.

There is another old adage important to embrace on this subject and it says that if you’re not irritating at least a few people per day with your sales and marketing efforts, you’re not going hard enough.  You’re not being edgy or assertive enough.  You’re messages are weak, boring, and ineffective.  Your messages are stimulating nothing - no reactions.  That silence can be deafening; and it will make you poor. 

You’re likely not even being seen, heard, or acknowledged.  Anywhere.  That’s a bad place to be.  Boring is not brave.

This is exactly why most so-called ‘social-media marketing’ doesn’t work either. Sure, it might bring you some likes, and some exposure, and a few comments on your work that make you feel a little warmer inside, but it does nothing to bring you new business. To bring you actual money that can pay the bills,keep the lights on, and eventually make you rich.

Those former ideas about LIKES and REACH and Exposure are all quite fluffy and fleeting.  Like cotton-candy in the rain. So, when you take marketing that stinks and you move it online into social media, the truth is that it still stinks, and in fact, it’s often much worse than that.  It’s the moldy piece of cheese in the back of the fridge that was a gift for Christmas and that you just discovered rotting in your crisper in May.

Interested in doing something about this?

Stay tuned to the ash flash.  The next six posts are part of a series I created to teach you the basics of direct-response marketing and to help you STOP wasting money.  To teach you how you can solve this problem and discover what the rest of us direct-response marketers know very very well.  

Warning! 

Once you discover the magic, there’s no going back.  You’re in the rabbit hole and the only way out is forward.  Constant exploration. Continued improvement. You can’t go back.  

Are you ready?

-John

PS Inside a very good book on this subject, Kim Walsh-Phillips writes on page 28, “While 86% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business, 89% of them said ‘increased exposure’ was their #1 benefit; and only 37% of marketers think that there facebook efforts are effective.  Over 75% of them don’t know how to measure their results.  Remember, direct-response marketing is all about marketing you can measure.  Every piece.  Every promotion.  If you can’t measure it, you’re wasting money. Stop doing it.  Don’t be like these people.  I know you're smarter than that.

PPS This book by Kim would be a great start in educating yourself on this topic.  I encourage you to pick-up a copy and start reading. While you're at it, pick up this book too: The No BS Guide to Direct-Response marketing

About the Author
John Ashworth is an empathetic sales leader with an incredibly diverse background as a salesman, business consultant, marketing maniac, writer, Dad and full time Bohemian Athlete. aka Johnny Renaissance.

Leave a comment

s2Member®