You can learn a LOT about marketing living in a small town.
Not lessons for what to do.
But lessons for what not to do.
Here’s what I mean:
As much as living in a small town suits my introverted, Big Foot-hunting ways, it’s sometimes painful watching the local businesses commit suicide.
It’s like they do the exact OPPOSITE of what smart businesses do.
In fact, it totally reminds me of “Bizarro” Superman.
Bizarro Superman is like Superman’s exact opposite who lives in the backwards Bizarro world.
In other words…
Up is down, down is up, he says hello when he leaves, says goodbye when he arrives, has freeze vision (instead of heat vision), flame breath (instead of frost breath), etc.
And that’s exactly how many of these local businesses operate.
For example, we got Bizarro customer service.
Instead of making you want to come back and even tell your friends… you get yahoos at the counter purposely making people stand in line for several minutes while they talk to a friend in line or on their cell phones.
We also got Bizarro hotel staff.
Instead of hiring competent people who, you know, tend to do a good job, some of these locals ONLY hire cronies and family members who KNOW they can’t be fired and treat people (especially tourists — the town’s “bread ‘n butter”) like lepers.
Heck, we’ve even got Bizarro INVESTORS around here.
This one dude’s pouring $30 million smackeroos into a new, high-end hotel/spa/thingy seemingly without much accountability or strategy.
Believe it or not, a chamber of commerce person actually said:
“We don’t need customers, we got $30 million.”
Dumb.
Anyway, here’s the point:
All of this is the exact OPPOSITE of what (most of us) do in marketing — where we test, measure and bend over backwards to make customers happy.
And it really puts things in perspective.
It also proves the late Earl Nightingale right when he said:
“If you want to succeed, just look around at what everyone else is doing, and do the exact opposite.”
That simple advice has served me well for a long time now.
And it can serve you well, too.
When you see the “bizarro marketers” out there doing things you know are hurting them, even if they have “goo roo” status, do the opposite.
Fight that urge to blindly follow people, and do what’s right.
Do that, and you’ll probably never go wrong.
Ben Settle
P.S. Speaking of “Bizarro marketing”…
Last time I raised The Copywriting Grab Bag price, I caught hell because I didn’t give a “warning” like everyone else does.
Instead of hammering you with emails about it, I pulled a “Bizarro” and didn’t say anything.
So this time I’ll do it “proper”:
The price is going up again next week.
So if you’re on the fence about getting it, now’s the time to “grab” your copywriting book:
