When it comes to things that people consider important for their organization, marketing, and especially SEO (search engine optimization), are often not high on the list. It can be difficult to see the value because marketing is about what could be more than what is.
We are motivated by the Fear of Loss.
If you don’t preach on Sunday, people notice. If of you don’t teach math for a month, parents notice (and kids celebrate). If you don’t perform your service, your customers complain. It’s easy to see the importance of doing those things because people notice when something is lost.
You don’t miss what you don’t have.
But what happens if you don’t do marketing? You been getting 10 customers a day and now? Well, you’re still getting 10 customers. It’s easy to not worry about it because you’re still getting 10 customers. But what if you could be getting 20 customers? Maybe your church has always gotten 1 or 2 visitors a week, but you could be getting 5 or 10. We tend to be more concerned about loosing what we have than we are about not getting what we could be getting.
So, the question is,
Can you look beyond what you have now to see what you could have tomorrow?
What you could have tomorrow doesn’t usually just come. You have to work at it. If you want to get out of a dead-end job, you have to work to find a new job. But how many people trudge along day after day, hating their job, but not doing anything to get what they could have? If, on the other hand, they knew they were going to loose their job in a month, you better believe they would be out trying to find another job. We often settle for what we have instead of pushing for what we could have. But if you want things to improve, you have to take the steps to get there.
Vision:
Marketing is all about what you could have. You may call it “vision”. It’s about not settling for what you have today. It’s about investing today so that tomorrow things will be better. Sales will be up. More people will be visiting. Classrooms will be full.
So, who will you choose to be? Will you settle for where you are? Or will you look beyond what you have today to see what you could have tomorrow…and then take the steps to get there?
Share with us:
- What is your vision for your organization?
- What are you doing to achieve that vision?
4 Comments
Do you mean the "build it and they will come" strategy doesn't work?
😉 – Not unless you're out in a corn field hanging out with James Earl Jones.
Marketing isn't evil. Selling isn't wrong. True selling is helping people get what they want. Marketing is letting people know your help is available. I wrote about this recently on my blog and posted a speech I gave on the topic.
I couldn't agree more Justine. What's the URL for your blog post?