The Grass Is Greener Where You Water It

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A few months ago I was helping one of my clients with their marketing outreach.  We talked a great deal about their social media outreach and where it fit in their overall marketing plan.  We had spent a great deal of time over the past year revamping and updating their look on all their social media and marketing channels and working on the engagement strategies to deepen the relationships with their customers.

But in some areas they were seeing little to no results. They talked alot about some of their competition and what they were doing.  So we looked at what the competition was doing and the perceived success that it appeared they were having.  I could tell that there was some envy in my client’s comments, so we dug deeper into the competition’s activities and a deeper evaluation of what my client was actually doing.  What I showed them surprised them.

For example, their fan growth on their Facebook page was growing at a snail’s pace. I pointed out that the recent ad buy they had done never mentioned their Facebook page.  And the new order of bags that customers are given before leaving the store didn’t have their Facebook page on it either.  And they still had not put their Facebook URL on their receipts like I suggested to them.  And their email signatures still didn’t include their Facebook URL, like I suggested. I asked them how they expected to get any fans if they didn’t tell anyone that they had a Facebook page?

I got blank stares back at me.

And after a long pause it hit them. It was one of those ‘oh crap’ moments. We looked at their competition and saw that they promoted their Facebook page on everything, even the sign out by the street. I told my client, “The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence. It’s greener where you water it.”

If you want the grass to grow, well, you have to water it.  But water isn’t free, and in some cases it’s down right expensive. So you have to spend it wisely.  But make no mistake, if you want it to pay off, then you have to sink time, or money, or both, into it. So don’t envy what others are doing. Get busy identifying your best patch of grass and water it people!

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