July 1, 2024
Canmore,
Alberta
“Maybe summer will arrive next year!”
(Can’t read the full email – click here for the online version.)
It’s another cold, wet morning. Out my window I can
see the wranglers, in their long oilskins, rain dripping off the brims of their Stetsons, getting the horses ready.
It’s July 1st, and another Canada Day parade is just an hour away. While the media back East cry out heat warnings and Federal politicians claim they have all the solutions to the climate “crisis”; here in the west of the country, most folks are hoping summer arrives before winter makes its return.
Parades are an interesting spectacle. My daughter claims they are an anachronism – representing an age when hunters returned with a successful kill or rulers returning from a victorious battle over another group of people.
She could very well be right.
One thing I do know, is that many businesses, organizations and
political hacks participate in them, ostensibly hoping to drum up customers or votes.
Most do this badly.
An article I wrote 2 years ago illustrates this well, so I decided I’d share it with you today.
Enjoy!
-Hugh
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Jul 3, 2022
Canmore AB – “Is this 10% off coupon the best you got?”
Friday, for my American friends, was Canada’s national day. When I was younger, we called it “Dominion Day”, to celebrate
the creation of Canada as a Dominion of its own, no longer a colony of the UK.
Now it’s called “Canada Day”, a horribly mundane name for so auspicious a day. After all, it’s rare for a country to secede from a former power, without war or rebellion.
Politics, however fun, is not the beat of this letter, so I will refrain from opining further on the subject.
The good news is, finally, after 2 years of forced shutdowns, our little town held a Canada Day parade.
And for such a small community, I will say, we pack a punch.
For close to 50 minutes, we were regaled by marching bands, dancing troupes, antique cars and well decorated floats. Adding to the throng were the usual
suspects, woke politicians and causes with a good sprinkling of businesses, large and small.
With a captive audience for which they didn’t spend any money to attract, a parade, especially in a small town, gives a business a golden opportunity to promote itself.
Too bad none took real advantage of it.
Almost to a
tee, everyone simply promoted their name, with some frivolous slogan.
Like this:
- “Best service in town”
- “Most Professional”
- “Largest selection”
- “Lowest prices”; “highest quality”
- “Get the job right the first time”
- “Family owned business for ‘4000’ years”…..
- “Yada, yada, yada”…
A
day later – I can only remember a small handful of businesses from the parade and that’s only because I knew the owners personally.
Since the advent of television and the 30 second (now less) advertising spot, marketing and promotion has fallen under the sway of the brand builders. This is not a problem if your ad
budget is huge and you needn’t concern yourself if those ad dollars return a positive number or not.
But for most of you running small businesses or professional practices, you can’t afford to waste any money at all. Yet, most of you, continue to make the same mistake as those I witnessed in the parade.
For proof of my claim, I encourage you watch my free video here.
Until next week,
Stay healthy and focus on profit!
- Hugh
The “Profit Accelerator” Expert
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