Why a 50-year old Marketing Ploy Works Even Better Today

As I approach my 80th birthday I am becoming more and more aware of the power in the old adage, "what goes around comes around".

I have just introduced my daughter to an ageless marketing concept I first used as a young man fifty years ago when I launched my embryonic advertising agency. It worked then and it still works today.

Whenever a prospect asked why he should entrust his business to me instead of a competitor I pulled out my cranky old projector and showed him why in less than three minutes via a series of slides depicting my mission statement - without saying a word.

Tell people how good you are at what you do and it's in one ear and out the other.

Show them through words and pictures with examples of what you have achieved for other clients and you grab their attention. The eyes become focused, the ears prick up, and the buying signals start to emerge.

Fifty years on and deploying advanced technologies (for free) this strategy becomes more sophisticated - and more powerful.

Let me illustrate what I mean...

My daughter operates a garden design consultancy and recently I revamped her business website to reflect her most recent commissions using the 'before' and 'after' technique. As I was doing this it occurred to me that a potted 3-minute video of my work would constitute a perfect visual mission statement (you can see how I went about this by clicking on the link in the bio accompanying this article).

Any virtual commercial philosophy contains five vital components:

1. Who you are
2. What you do
3. How you do it
4. Examples of your completed assignments
5. Contact details

Now she has a distinct advantage over me fifty years ago. Her video has already captured top rankings on Google and most of the major search engines; it has been tweeted, appears on her Facebook channel and a host of other social media outlets.

However the video has a much more potent application in the offline world when used as a clinch-the-deal device in face to face meetings with prospective clients.

Watch the video then think about adopting this strategy for your own small business. A virtual mission statement will work wonders irrespective of the nature of your enterprise.

It worked for me fifty years ago and it will work for you today.

Nice and easy does it every time...

JIM GREEN is a bestselling author with 40 traditionally published titles in the realms of fiction and non-fiction.
http://www.youtube.com/user/jimgreen333