If you’re a dentist, sorry, you’ll have to sit this article out.

Although I’ve never had a dentist as a marketing “patient”, the challenge of their marketing strategy is clear…

…how do you keep your name on the lips of your patients when they don’t have a toothache.

When your tooth doesn’t hurt, you aren’t thinking about your tooth.  On the other hand, when you have a toothache, it’s all you think about.

Actually all marketers and businesses have this problem, it’s just that the dentist example reveals a  clear contrast. When people have toothaches, the dentist has no problem finding customers. Conversely, when your teeth don’t hurt, you’re invisible as a prospect.

So, for all of you non-dental business people, the trick is to keep your product, service or solution on the lips of your prospects and customers. If not on their lips, at least in the front of their minds. You want to own the number 1 position in their psyche.

Difficult challenge when you’re working with a limited budget. But far from impossible.

Here’s a magic bullet, step by step answer for you >

1. Develop a CRM system that prevents ANY prospect or customer from falling through the cracks.
2. Create an email, gentle follow up system (preferably with an auto-responder) that communicates with everyone.
3. Create new and fun products, one page newsletters, birthday cards, etc.
4. Send Thank You notes following an order (within 12 hours) -Handwritten, not an email.

You don’t have to go the extra mile, but at least go the extra 200 feet past all your competitors. (You and I both know their customer service sucks).

This is your chance to shine.

The moral of this article: We’re all toothache marketers.

The history of famous entrepreneurs has always fascinated me.  I’ve read the biographies and second hand accounts of people like John Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Thomas Edison and others.

To me, the end result of what these people churned out isn’t as interesting as the challenges they all faced early in their careers. As different as many of these individuals were, they also shared some common traits and skill sets. The legendary tactics used as they clawed their way to the top make for great reading.

But the days of the lone wolf entrepreneur are over.

The smart entrepreneurs of today understand that fortunes are made and lost based on relationship building.  How well one builds a product or delivers a service is not nearly as important as how well he or she develops key business relationships.

The most valuable asset great businesses own today is their customer list, not their brick and mortar nor their equipment. Equity resides in the customer list.

If you insist on reaching in your drawer for the checkbook to buy some more advertising, I can’t stop you.

But as your friend- just be aware of these “truisms”…

• You will not track your R.O.I.   (don’t lie to me)
• Your target audience is going to be too large
• Your ad sales rep. will admit to you that a 1-2% response rate is considered successful (only in advertising can a 98-99% failure rate be successful).
• You probably won’t have a compelling headline
• There may not be a call to action
• The strangers reading your ad don’t trust you

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

There was once a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs.

This man was very hard of hearing, hence he had no radio to keep him informed.

He had trouble with his eyes so he wasn’t able to read newspapers.

But he sold good hot dogs and he was very personable.

The man put signs up on the highway telling how good his hot dogs were.

He would stand on the side of the road and say “Hey Mister, would you like to try a great dog?”

And people bought. And they returned and bought again.

He increased his meat and bun orders. He invested in better, larger signs.

He eventually bought a bigger stove and cart to handle his increased inventory.

Life was good.

His son, who left 4 years ago for college had finally returned to help him out.

But then something happened.

His son said, “Father haven’t you been listening to the radio?”

“There is a huge downturn in the economy. The price of gas is horrible. This is a severe recession”.

He continued, ” You can’t increase your investment and risk, in your hot dog business!”

Whereupon the father thought, well my son’s been to college, he reads the newspapers and he listens to the radio.

He ought to know.

So the father cut down on his meat and bun orders. He took down his advertising signs and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs.

And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight.

“You’re right son,” the father declared to the boy,

“We’re most certainly in the middle of a negative economy!”

Going into 1920, C.W. Post was the undisputed king of breakfast cereal. They didn’t dominate that position, they owned it.

So in the mid 20’s when the gloom and doom began to roll in, the CEO and the Board of Directors were confident that they could slash their advertising budget and wait out the Great Depression.  That strategy certainly worked for many large companies, but in this case, it backfired.

Thanks to a company called Kellogg.

What CW Post didn’t know is that Kellogg had guts. Kellogg saw a huge opportunity to grab market share and topple a giant, which is precisely what happened.

If a car is speeding down a racetrack in reverse and another car is accelerating toward the finish line, the race is over quickly.

Procter and Gamble had a marketing strategy in place prior to 1920 that dictates an automatic increase in marketing budgets with the onset of a recession.  Remember, ad space and media costs go way down. It’s no wonder that Procter and Gamble is Procter and Gamble.