TV
show about nothing holds lessons for small business
owners
What
could Seinfeld possibly have to do with marketing a
small business? As it turns out, all small business
owners could take a few lessons from the show that
brought us such popular phrases as “Man Hands” and
“master of your domain”.
The
Coffee Shop
– Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine spent countless
hours in the coffee shop, talking about “nothing.”
You should spend some time there as well, but instead of
talking about your parents or your date last night, get
together with other small business owners and talk about
your respective business and marketing activities. Many
of you already participate in local business clubs and
organizations, but the feedback and shared ideas that
are generated in an informal business chat over a coffee
are often the most valuable. My “coffee shop group”
consists of 3 small businesses owners from different
industries. Between us, we generate great marketing
ideas for each other or in my case, new topics for small
business articles. You can easily gather a few small
business owners together for this type of meeting. Just
be sure they are not competitors!
The
Short-Term Relationship
– It seemed that every Thursday, Jerry was dating a
different woman. In fact, outside of Elaine he rarely
dated a woman for any length of time. Jerry understood
that sometimes, you don’t want to be tied down to a
long-term relationship. The same rule applies to your
small business marketing activities. Too many small
businesses get drawn in to long-term advertising
relationships by committing to a certain amount of
advertising in exchange for a discount. Those who sell
advertising try to convince business owners that you
can’t evaluate a particular form of advertising based
on just a small sampling period, and thus a longer
contract is required. This is simply not true. In the
small business world, ads must at least pay for
themselves before you agree to investigate any long-term
advertising commitment. You’re not building the next
mega conglomerate (not yet, anyway), so ad money that
doesn’t produce a positive ROI is wasted money. Jerry
understood that if the early part of the relationship
wasn’t perfect, the rest was bound to go downhill.
Apply that rule to your marketing and advertising
purchases and you’ll maximize the effectiveness of
your advertising. If it works on a sample basis,
consider a long term plan. If it doesn’t work in the
short term, give them the “it’s not you, it’s
me” routine and move on.
The
Superman Effect
– Did you know that Superman appears or is mentioned
in every Seinfeld episode? It’s true, largely because
Jerry kept a Superman figurine in his apartment that
popped up in the background numerous times during each
episode. For small business marketers, Jerry’s
Superman equates to your core business. With so many
marketing opportunities to consider, it’s easy to lose
sight of your primary business in pursuit of new revenue
streams. Unfortunately, this can often leads to the
collapse of your business. Take a page out of Jerry’s
book, and be sure to keep your core business (your
“Superman”) a part of everything you do, even if it
is only in the background. Every opportunity and every
possible marketing strategy that you consider must
relate back to your core product/service offering to
ensure the continuity of your business. Don’t allow
yourself to become so sidetracked that you end up
chasing marketing opportunities that detract from your
current strengths. When evaluating a new business
opportunity, ask yourself “How will this new marketing
or business idea impact on my core business?” before
you begin a new marketing venture.
The
next time you are watching a Seinfeld Rerun, be sure to
look for the hidden small business tips in each episode.
You might find that it wasn’t a show about nothing
after all.
“Seinfeld”
is a registered trademark of Castle Rock Entertainment
