1.06.2014

Don’t Invite Them Until You are Ready

By Glen Gardner
CEO GG&A

One of the basic rules of marketing is; don't invite them in until you are ready. What that means is don't spend marketing dollars inviting people through the door until you have all the kinks ironed out of your business or service. Not doing so can be a disaster of major proportions that you never recover from.

It doesn't matter whether you are big or small, the same rules apply. Just ask Uncle Sam what happens when you think the rules of marketing don't apply to you.
This very scenario has been playing out on the national scene with billions of dollars wasted and the public's trust eroded to a point that recovery may be near impossible.

I'm referring to the disastrous rollout of the Affordable Care Act. The government spent millions of dollars inviting people through the doors before they were ready. I saw television commercials inviting me to visit a web site that didn't work or to call a number that no one would answer. This was a classic case of breaking premature invitation rule.

The fallout is so severe that there are questions as to whether or not the program will ever fully get off the ground in the manner it was intended to. All because they opened the store before it was ready.

There is a big lesson here for any business or service that is considering spending marketing dollars in an effort to get people to a web site, store or other business. If you are not really ready, don't invite them in. It can put you out of business faster than you can say "Obamacare."

Get your ducks in a row, and then invite the masses.


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