Silver Bullets
What are Silver Bullets? Basically it goes like this…when you run a small business there will be times when you think, “If we only did this we’d become a HUGE success”…We tried this with PR. We hired a PR company at significant cost for any small company. While Levi and I did earn what I call our “Masters Degrees in Communications” (which is very useful by the way), the PR firm did not really deliver on any of the campaigns stated goals (i.e. increase trials of our product, build awareness about our service in the small business market).
At the time we engaged the firm, we said things like, “if only we could get an article in a national newspapers. We’d be home free”, or something to that effect. Basically we were hoping that media exposure would be the “Silver Bullet” that turned our success into extraordinary success. Which brings me to the one thing you need to know about Silver Bullets: there are NO Silver Bullets.
We have since been in all three of Canada’s National Newspapers one way or another. We did not notice any increase in trials around any of those dates. The point is, there is NO ONE THING that is going to bring your business overnight success…instead your success will come by continuing to do a handful of things very well…so put your nose down, keep delivering great service, and the results will come.
Copyright © 2000-2009
2:21 pm
Michael, I know and work with a number of authors in my current job, and it has been really disillusioning to find out how much they have paid and in return how very little they have received from PR firms, marketing firms, book promoters and speaker’s bureaus. You’re absolutely right that there are no silver bullets — at the same time, I wish more people charged commensurate with the results they deliver. (Surely a backlash will happen some day.)
On a related note, David Maister recently had a rousing discussion about creating awareness of an online business using internet tools. (Full disclosure: David is a client of stresslimitdesign.) There are no silver bullets there, but there’s definitely some great ideas that might interest you for freshbooks. The conversation spanned this series of 3 blog posts:
1. Creating Awareness
http://davidmaister.com/blog/114/
- look to the discussion in the comments for some really great suggestions
2. Marketing Complexity
http://davidmaister.com/blog/115/
- where David bemoans the catch-22 nature of the silver bullet syndrome
3. Minnow or Whale
http://davidmaister.com/blog/124/
- continues the previous conversation and links to a Time of London article which discusses the issue
I hope some of the information here proves helpful for you!
Best wishes,
Shaula
7:11 am
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9:29 am
[...] We like to try things and look for “signs of life” with our marketing before we increase our spend in any medium. It’s always the right approach because, no matter how much you might want it to be true, there are no silver bullets. [...]
1:47 am
[...] We like to try things and look for “signs of life” with our marketing before we increase our spend in any medium. It’s always the right approach because, no matter how much you might want it to be true, there are no silver bullets.” [...]