At the time of this writing, I have an adorable 11-month old pup named Luna.
She’s learning every day about how to be more polite and to follow the rules we give her. And she’s getting better!
One thing we taught her was to lay down while we’re eating instead of begging us for food. Typical dog stuff. She used to whine and stand at our feet in the hopes that we’ll give her some scraps from the table.
Now, she’s much better. She knows to lie down when we eat and rarely makes a peep. But recently, she’s been trying a new tactic… and admittedly, it’s working on me.
Lately, she’s been very subtly placing her paw on my feet when I’m eating. Just the gentlest, cutest nudge. Sometimes, she even rests it ever-so-lightly on my foot, just to remind me that she’s there.
And you know what? It doesn’t bug me at all. In fact, it’s endearing.
It also keeps her top-of-mind should I wish to pass off a bite of my food. While I don’t like to feed her scraps from the table, she often gets a little treat here or there when she tries this trick. I didn’t even realize it happening until today.
What did that teach me?
Luna reminded me what good marketing should feel like to your customers and prospective customers.
Finding a way to gently nudge your customers, in a way that doesn’t annoy them, in a way that either adds value or builds a relationship, is how you should be thinking about your marketing.
Social media, email marketing, blog content, and even advertising should feel positive to your potential customers. It should get people’s attention while not being aggressive or overbearing. Just.. ever.. so.. subtle.
And what does that do? It makes people aware of you. It keeps you top of mind. It also doesn’t annoy them when you do it this way. In fact, they grow fonder of your business if you do it right.
As a result, they buy from you.
That’s how good marketing works. That’s how you should be thinking about engaging with your target market with your ongoing marketing efforts.
It’s not just the first impression that counts, it’s how you stay in people’s minds over time that leads to the sale.