Building Momentum

Some business people get it, others don’t.  I’m talking about the building and growing process for your business and how advertising fits in.

I can’t tell you how many times people had unrealistic expectations and were either disappointed or they were too afraid to pull the trigger and start.

A couple months ago, I was talking with a business owner that’s coming back to WOWO radio after being off our station for well over a decade.

I didn’t work with him previously but this time he was telling me all the things that I would have told him.  Instead, he’s learned the lessons about how some things take time.

More than time, there’s also consistency and patience.

For all the parents out there, if you want a child, how long does it take?

Typically 9 months from conception to birth.

Despite the advances in medicine, health care and technology, it takes 9 months for that baby to grow inside a mother’s womb before that baby is ready to debut.

Here’s another example I was sharing with someone in the farming world the other day.

If you want to eat a fresh ear of corn on the cob tonight, you can’t plan the corn seed kernel this morning and expect it to happen.  There’s a certain amount of time needed to get the results.  And similar to the growing human embryo, at first, there’s nothing visible going on.

Eventually, we see beginning signs  that something is going on, but there’s limited ways to change the timeline.

This same principle applies to your advertising.

When I worked with music radio stations, I would tell new advertising partners that the first month or two were investments into the future.  In other words, don’t expect people to respond the first week, and certainly don’t expect to break even in the first month.

However there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that aren’t visible that are positive.  People are hearing or seeing your company name and the stuff you do, sell and can help them with.  Most of those people have no use for what you offer when they first start learning about your business, but over time, more and more will be in the market to buy what you sell.

This is why most of the advertising contracts I create are for a full 12 months.  Sometimes even longer.

Let’s say your business is going to spend $52,000 with me over the next 12 months.  You would need an average of $1000 dollars in business generated from that ad campaign every week to break even.  It’s not going to happen the first week.

It might be 10 weeks before you start earning back anything and by then you’re 10 grand in the hole.

That’s when inexperienced rookies get nervous and pull the plug and stop.  It’s also why I look at the long term.  That $10,000 is like the first 10 weeks in the womb.  Something special is going on even if you can’t see it yet.

When someone sticks it out with me, you’re going to get results and that initial money you paid will come back to you in the future as the momentum builds.

Just like I shared the story last week about the Space Shuttle from my Sound ADvice newsletter, this stuff works when you understand how to make it work.

Want to know more?  Contact me and we’ll see how this could apply to your business.  Scott@WOWO.com