I have “a range” of things I’m comfortable making (and many things I am not), covering breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. The other week, I decided to make a nice Sunday breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast for me and my wife. My bacon is legendary (it’s all in temp and technique) and I am a scrambled egg champion (ask me to fry a couple eggs over-easy, however, and I’m lost.)
As I proudly served my wife her plate of my “epic” bacon and champion scrambled eggs (both self-awarded titles), she made the following comment… “I’m so excited. I love your toast! You make THE BEST toast ever!” Now, I have no idea if I make “the best toast ever,” but my wife does, and let’s be honest, that’s all that really matters in my world, right? But, why does she think this?? My guess is that I actually put some work into my toast. You see, the people who invented toasters have designed ALL toasters to never toast anything to the actual setting you set them at, nor will they ever toast things evenly, no matter how many slots or settings they have. Knowing this, when I make toast, I use the “flip & rotate” method. This involves popping the toast out manually several times during the toasting process, flipping front to back, even rotating which slot a slice is placed. The outcome is beautiful toast every time. Toast is simple and basic, not all the exciting or new, yet, when done right, can become a headliner. Marketing holds these same qualities. As I’ve said many times before, marketing need not be complicated nor expensive. What it needs is a commitment to be done well and done right, like my epic toast. During the most recent election season, I had three different candidates knock on my door, ready to speak with me about their position on a variety of topics. I spent no more than 5 minutes with each of them, yet that interaction proved far more effective than any TV ad, robo call or mailer. Doesn’t get much more basic than going door-to-door to deliver a message. (I should have offered each of them some of my epic toast, see if they agree with wife.) Whether a small business owner, part of a non-profit leadership group, or one person just getting started, don’t get frustrated if your marketing isn’t elaborate or expensive, or feel like you need that for it to be successful. It could be a basic referral program to facilitate word-of-mouth, or a simple direct mail postcard to select zip codes, even an email to your list of contacts, current customers or past donors. Whichever option works best for your situation, just be sure to “do it right,” that is, take the time and effort it requires to be successful.
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