
Quit Bothering People!
Your perception of whether your marketing is bothering people or helping people can either be holding you back or propelling you forward. If you tend to feel like you are bothering people, it’s time for a mindset shift right now!
When you are in business, it’s crucial people know about you. You must spread the word about who you are, what you do, and how you can help people, or you will have no customers. Simple, right? Companies who have something to offer match up with the people who need what they have and business occurs (wow, this sounds like magic!).
It is also crucial to recognize this truth: not everyone is your customer. This is a concept many people have difficulty grasping, but if you think about it you realize your business is uniquely positioned to best serve a specific group of people, not all people. When you try to serve too broad a market, your message becomes diluted. It is the age old problem of trying to be everything to everybody – it can’t be done and can kill you from trying.
If you have something of value to somebody, then it makes sense that you have something valuable to say about that something of value. If you let the idea of bothering people run around unchecked in your mind, you will start to feel guilty about contacting the very people who want to hear from you. Stop it!
The worry over whether you’re bothering people can work for you or against you. As we said above, if you worry so much about bothering people that you quit talking to your customer base, it’s a negative thing. However, it can work for you, because if you truly don’t want to bother people, you will strive harder to always provide relevant, valuable content. If you always provide relevant, valuable content, people will not feel bothered by you. Plus, your business may increase because you are consistently communicating with your customers, prospects, and networking partners.
To drive this point home, think of your own behavior. If you have been patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for a shipment to arrive, aren’t you glad to get the text or email informing you it’s on its way? If you know the latest newsletter from your gym, coach, or consultant will inspire you or help you, aren’t you grateful to read it? If you know you need to get your carpet cleaned or your teeth cleaned or anything else cleaned, aren’t you glad when the postcard arrives in the mail with a reminder or a special incentive (along with the phone number you’ve been too busy to even look up)? We are not bothered by things we want to read. End of story.
Not everything in business is simple, but some things are. If you have a list of people who are your ideal clients, don’t worry about bothering them if you send them relevant information. If they don’t want it, they will unsubscribe from your list or throw your mail in the trash. If they like hearing from you but just don’t have time right now to read your stuff, they will wait until next time. We all stay subscribed to things we find valuable even though we may not read their mail 100% of the time. At the very least, seeing your name in their inbox or mailbox reminds them of you and you stay top of mind. If they DO want your information, however, wouldn’t it be sad if they did business with someone else due to a lack of contact because you were worried about bothering them?
Quit bothering people by sending filler or fluff. Help them instead by communicating with relevant information to the right people. And, as always, feel free to let me know if this was relevant or if I’m bothering you…
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