{"id":1697,"date":"2009-04-01T15:52:32","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T15:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/?p=1697"},"modified":"2009-04-01T15:52:32","modified_gmt":"2009-04-01T15:52:32","slug":"bizarro-marketing-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/bizarro-marketing-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizarro Marketing World"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can learn a LOT<\/strong> about marketing living in a small town.<\/p>\n

Not lessons for what to<\/em> do.<\/p>\n

But lessons for what not<\/em> to do.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I mean:<\/p>\n

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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It’s like they do the exact OPPOSITE of what smart businesses do.<\/p>\n

In fact, it totally reminds me of “Bizarro” Superman.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bizarro Superman is like Superman’s exact opposite<\/em> who lives in the backwards Bizarro world. <\/p>\n

In other words…<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And that’s exactly<\/em> how many of these local businesses operate.<\/p>\n

For example, we got Bizarro customer service.<\/p>\n

Instead of making you want to come back and even tell your friends… you get yahoos at the counter purposely<\/em> making people stand in line for several minutes while they talk to a friend in line or on their cell phones. <\/p>\n

We also got Bizarro hotel staff.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong> they can’t be fired and treat people (especially tourists — the town’s “bread ‘n butter”) like lepers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Heck, we’ve even got Bizarro INVESTORS<\/strong> around here.<\/p>\n

This one dude’s pouring $30 million smackeroos into a new, high-end hotel\/spa\/thingy seemingly without much accountability or strategy.<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, a chamber of commerce person actually said:<\/p>\n

“We don’t need customers, we got $30 million.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Dumb.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here’s the point:<\/p>\n

All of this is the exact OPPOSITE<\/strong> of what (most of us) do in marketing — where we test, measure and bend over backwards to make customers happy.<\/p>\n

And it really puts things in perspective.<\/p>\n

It also proves the late Earl Nightingale<\/strong> right when he said:<\/p>\n

\n“If you want to succeed, just look around at what everyone else is doing, and do the exact opposite.”<\/strong><\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That simple advice has served me well for a long time now.<\/p>\n

And it can serve you well, too. <\/p>\n

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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fight that urge to blindly follow people, and do what’s right<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Do that, and you’ll probably never go wrong.<\/p>\n

Ben Settle<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/strong> Speaking of “Bizarro marketing”…<\/p>\n

Last time I raised The Copywriting Grab Bag<\/strong> price, I caught hell because I didn’t give a “warning” like everyone else does. <\/p>\n

Instead of hammering you with emails about it, I pulled a “Bizarro” and didn’t say anything.<\/p>\n

So this time I’ll do it “proper”:<\/p>\n

The price is going up again next week.<\/p>\n

So if you’re on the fence about getting it, now’s the time to “grab” your copywriting book<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

www.CopywritingGrabBag.com<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sales-marketing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t