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You Don't Need An M.B.A. to Understand Drip Marketing |
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I replaced the handle cover and was finally done with the faucet repair. I had watched that faucet drip forever and was delighted to have completed the overdue plumbing project. For weeks, the drips, discreet and barely noticeable, had been whispering to me, "fix me, fix me, fix me". Consistently, I responded in a hushed tone, "not now, not now, not now" because it was always inconvenient to start the repair job.
It wasn't until I began calculating that hundreds of thousands of drips resulted in hundreds of gallons of billed metered water being drained needlessly into a capacity challenged leach field, that I saw the powerful effects of dripping water. It was time to make the repair.
While a dripping faucet is something to end, a drip marketing system is something you may want to start for your horse business. It's a way to keep your information in front of your target market in small doses over long periods of time. You already know advertising works best with frequent message delivery rather than intense delivery during a short window.
Sure, it takes a long time to fill a glass of water with a dripping faucet. But if you're not in a hurry to take a drink, does it matter?
As an example, if you drip market information about your summer riding camp or back to school lesson program over a periods of three to six months in the form of e-mail blasts, post cards and display advertising, your results will be much better than trying to fill a program three weeks before it starts.
When you are under pressure to fill an event with spectators and participants (lessons, camp, horse show, clinic, rodeo, trail ride) the drip method is replaced with the fire hose method. That is the information is no longer dripped but instead, blasted through a four inch hose at one hundred pounds of pressure.
Ever try to fill a glass with water from a fire hose?
The fire hose marketing method is too much, too fast, too late. Its not much different than attempting to load a green horse into a trailer for the very first time when you're already late in starting out for the horse show.
Keep your marketing program methodical, simple and drip the information into your prospect's glass.
They'll drink when the glass is at the right level.
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| Others Have Said |
"Enough shovels of earth - a mountain. Enough pails of water - a river."-- Chinese Proverb
"One kernel is felt in a hogshead; one drop of water helps to swell the ocean; a spark of fire help to give light to the world. None are too small, too feeble, too poor to be of service. Think of this and act." -- Hannah Moore
"I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place. " -- Steven Wright
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Back At The Barn |
If you live in snow country, you know what it's like when the March sun starts a snow pack "melt down." As the sun rises, snow melt begins with dripping water, but quickly turns into running rivers everywhere by noon.
Our farm handles water drainage well. Except this time of year, when snow banks and ice prevent water from flowing where it's supposed to go. Water, always a bit resentful of being guided and directed by man, takes advantage of unusual situations like spring time snow melting to remind me that I'm not so smart. ( not that there isn't always a line of people for that job)
Even with drain tiles, ditches and engineered slopes, water creates havoc by running under doors and walls to make stalls wet and dispatch resident mice from their hiding spots.
I'll blame water mischief as the cause for creating an unstable (pun intended) stall floor last week. Rubber stall matting was the choice for the repair solution. I've installed rubber matting before and despite learning a few "tricks" of installation through experience, it's always a test of mental and physical endurance. Combine one hundred pound rubber mats, a limited supply of utility knife blades for cutting to size, a slightly frozen stockpile of "stone dust" for floor leveling, poor lighting, a cranky installer and a willing but undersized helper and you get the makings of a comedy for YouTube.
The next time I take on a barn/farm improvement project, I'll think I'll include the video camera as part of the toolkit. These are the moments of intensity and silliness of life that the family will laugh at years from now. |
| Orlando, FL First Week of April |
Business travel takes me to Orlando the first week of April 2008. If you are in the Orlando area and would like help with your business, let's talk about getting together.
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Don't look back until the day is done and have a spectacular week!
Doug
Doug Emerson
Profitable Horseman  |
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