What a Pet Store Can Teach You About Marketing
I received a catalog in the mail the other day from a pet store.
Now, I have one pet….a Congo African Grey Parrot named Max (or Maxwell Smart as I like to call him). He is 17 years old.
Leave it to me to pick a pet that is the 3rd smartest animal in the world and lives for 40-60 years.
Ok, so every choice I make isn’t perfect.
Anyway, this catalog had a bunch of bird toys in it. Now, if you know anything about parrots you’d know that the best toys are toys that can be totally destroyed, shredded, annihilated….
Some of the toys in this catalog actually were of figures wearing sports uniforms.
Hockey uniforms, Baseball uniforms, Football uniforms, Basketball uniforms, etc. Every team you could have thought of was accounted for.
Personally I thought this bird toy manufacturer wasn’t just brilliant, they TOTALLY understood their market.
Not African Grey Parrots mind you, the Parrot’s owner.
You see, Parrots don’t give a rip about sports uniforms, colors, or anything else that any toy might look like or be wearing. All Max cares about is destroying a toy.
But the toy manufacturer knows this…so they market to the person who buys the toys, the pet’s owner, the one with the credit card.
You see, I can buy a toy with my favorite team jersey, or a team a don’t like so I can enjoy watching Max rip it apart. Either way, I’m making a purchase.
Pretty smart of them huh?
So who are you marketing to?
Are you marketing to the person with the credit card or to someone else, like yourself?
Yourself?
Yes, yourself. We look at what we THINK our prospects want (based on what we want) and start advertising.
But many times we are wrong.
Do Homeowners care about the SEER rating of an air conditioner or being cool in the summer? (hint: it’s about being cool)
Do Homeowners care about the model number of a water heater or just that they don’t run out of hot water? (hint: nobody likes to run out of hot water ½ way through a shower)
So I challenge you to do this, before you send out your next marketing piece, ask someone in your target market what they think and tell them to be BRUTALLY honest. What they don’t tell you can’t help you.
If you’d like help with your marketing schedule a quick 10-minute Triage call with me and let’s figure it out together!
LEGEND Founder, Dennis M Hohman, knows these problems better than anyone. He has worked in the contracting trade, sold supplies to contractors and seen it all. He has watched contractors get the short end of the stick for decades.
LEGEND is about sidestepping the landmines and building a LEGENDARY contracting business.
