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Human beings are social animals, and generally speaking we’re also a fairly needy bunch; we’re constantly on the lookout for attention from and approval of others. Now whether that statement applies to us individually only sometimes or all the time, it’s usually the emotional elixir of getting attention and receiving approval from others that drives the behavior.

It’s not the approval and attention we’re after; it’s the way the attentive approval makes us feel that reinforces our triggers to go seek more of it.

We all have emotions that sometimes drive our actions a little more so than they should.

That’s all well and good, but what in the H E double hockey sticks does this psychobabble BS have to do with North Korea, Dennis Rodman, or digital marketing for local your Carlsbad business new customer acquisition?

Carlsbad Businesses, Dennis Rodman, & North Korea

 

You’re all seeking attention.

Dennis Rodman no longer plies his trade cleaning the glass backboards of the NBA, you need new patients to keep your practice running, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants a place at the adults table.

 

Carlsbad Businesses Are Like North Korea

Image via PterriCloth on reddit

 

Don’t get us wrong, we’re totally seeking attention from more of you…hence the futile attempt of this here blog post to draw any slim correlations between new customer acquisition for local Carlsbad businesses and geopolitics.

Carlsbad Businesses Seeking the Attention of New Customers

 

You won’t catch us diving into the political deep end of foreign relations in this digital marketing diatribe. This is about local businesses and their need for attention from their surrounding communities – and beyond.

While The Worm and the precocious fearlessly mystified North Korean leader that looks like the Boy Scout character Russell from the movie “Up,” certainly know how to draw attention, they might not be going about it in the best way.

 
Kim Jun Un Looks Like Russell From The Movie Up
 

Just like one of our newly minted Carlsbad client was doing when they were donating upwards of $1200 a month to the local yellow pages publisher for her quarter page full color ad.

What good is color when nobody even sees the ad?

The attention seeking isn’t the problem, the way in which the attention is trying to be captured is what ultimately limits effectiveness and quickly turns counterproductive to the original goal of new customer acquisition for Carlsbad businesses.

Never mind that this publisher wasn’t even listing this business to remain nameless in the actual city that their business was located, or how the promise of a professionally designed, seo optimized, super-terrific business website & online advertising bundle was really just a hodgepodge grade school kids can do better cookie cutter template derived ruse designed to keep a fleeing customer base (that’s you) satiated with sub-par attention grabbing sales techniques.

Carlsbad Businesses Seeking Attention in the Worst Ways

 

1. The Red Herring

Funny, I see you for a whole 1:30, and neither you nor your staff actually talks with me when I’m in your establishment. Then when I come home from my visit in which I made a purchase, I see a friendly email asking for a review, testimonial, or referral. Yeah, maybe if you were really that friendly in person and didn’t charge exorbitantly high prices…see how quickly a poorly timed misaligned email can fly your referral and digital word of mouth generation efforts right off the tracks.

Don’t lead customers toward false conclusions by trying to act as if you care when you never show it, actions speak louder than words.

(Actually right after a visit and purchase is one of the best times…but keep in mind what that customer purchased, if they’re historically the type of customers you want to get more of, if they have they ever been a customer service challenge…etc.)

Lesson: If you’re gonna talk the talk, walk the walk for best results.

 

2. The Carlsbad Business That Is Stuck In The 70s

You dump hundreds sometimes thousands into yellow pages advertising each month. While maybe some months you could manage to squeak out a break even response rate, the entire medium is a losing proposition.

How many attention giving eyeballs see your yellow pages ad each month?

How many of those same eyeballs search Google, or hang out on Facebook, or twiddle away time on Twitter?

Lesson: There’s this thing called the internet, and push button dialing has finally arrived!

 

3. Look at Me! Look at Me! Look at Me!

While we may be entrenched in a culture of desperate me-first look-at-me attitudes, there still exists a fundamental understanding within our collective ilk that the most attention seeking validation needing individuals amongst us sometimes come off as pathetically misdirected.

Case in point, the real estate agent that is everywhere in your community; bus benches, mailers, taxi cabs, billboards, urinal cakes…you know; the one that so graciously updates your Facebook newsfeed every 5 minutes.

And you’re asking yourself, doesn’t this real estate agent have any self-respect?

Being the repetitive real estate agent may certainly produce new MLS listing numbers, but at what cost?

Aside from the cheesiness factor, that kind of visibility doesn’t come cheap no matter if your business is located in Carlsbad or Casablanca – and it doesn’t adjust for seasonal downturns, holidays, closures, power outages…etc.

You pay to play no matter what. Make sure every chip your Carlsbad business plays at the advertising and marketing table is paying you back in new customer ROI.

Lesson: Everything moderation, including digital (or offline) marketing for new customer acquisition.

 

Conclusions?

And there we have it, exactly what local Carlsbad businesses have in common with Dennis Rodman and North Korea – the need for attention. Some business owners dive in to local seo and social media head first before quickly exiting claiming little action, others cling to outdated avenues of promotion; while the attention seeking effort should be commended, the tactical deployment of new customer acquisition resources need to be vetted, audited, and aligned with your business culture.

Attention seeking isn’t the problem, the way in which some local Carlsbad businesses go about it – or don’t – is.

Don’t be that guy – or girl.

Got any more ways in which local Carlsbad businesses go off the deep end when it comes to attention grabbing new customer acquisition techniques?

 
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