Thanks for joining me again. Do you like coffee? I love my coffee. Every morning I get a medium black with one sugar. As automatic as the sun rising, I get a coffee and it sets the tone for me for the rest of my day.

I have become so inextricably joined to it, that on those rare occasions when I’ve forgotten, my head starts pounding with caffeine withdrawal reminding me of my fix.This coffee chain has promised me a quality product and delivered it to me each time. They understand an important business strategy, and that is the value of a long time customer. They have nurtured this along slowly and ensured I was a regular consumer and they could gradually offer me new and different products they added to their mix.

Does your advertising do that? Are you consistently, persistently in front of your customers, and prospects on an ongoing basis? Researching their wants and needs, or does it resemble a hunt and kill for one big sale, then move on in search of a brand new customer all over again?

I’ve often felt that advertising for most clients, maybe you feel this way too, should be more akin to an ongoing dating process. Always trying to impress the girl with great service, a new look. A variety of enticements from chocolates and flowers, to dinners and shows, and always keeping it on that level.

She should hear a compliment from you everyday. How she looks. Pretty blouse. Flattering dress. Nice shoes. How she always captures your heart. With consistent reassurance and affection, she will keep coming back, and coming back, and staying with you. She will have eyes for no other.

This is how I think your advertising, in media and all other communications, should be deployed. Consistently. Persistently. Putting solutions in front of them which genuinely resolve a problem or make their job easier.

In our last message, we asked you to stay tuned for a simple step that can save you lots of money for your ad budget. And we have it for you today. But just before we reveal that, we want you to take notice of this, your advertising is more alike to dating than you perhaps realize. It should be relationship building. It needs time to nurture and develop, and you want to treat this as an ongoing process and not just a final sale, but a customer lifetime of sales.The hard part of course is keeping it fresh and relevant. No woman, or client, wants to be courted the same way day after day after day after…. Rather, it should be as varied as your resources will allow, but as consistent as possible to ensure she knows it could only come from you.

At the moment, in no particular order, your courting efforts may get started with an introductory post card, soon after that, a quick, informative letter, perhaps an e-mail, then a phone call to put a voice to the source.  Maybe it’s time to interject a light promotion and suggest a lunch together.

Follow that up with another letter solving a problem and then a further postcard, and maybe host a seminar, or step it up to more powerful media including newspaper, and on-line and radio and magazine and television.

And while all these elements are in play, you keep consistent, persistent awareness of who you are, what you offer, in front of them. Too many ad campaigns and dates I’m sure, go right for the jugular. They try for the big sales on the first date, and not enough time building the relationship to ensure loyalty is ongoing.

Taking a cue from my own advice, I’ll be back soon.

Stay tuned.

P.S.  This is such a staggering ploy it eludes me why more large and small advertisers don’t do it.

Want to save money on your advertising?  I mean ‘really save some money? 

Few other tactics work as well as buying early. When it’s February, start booking your Radio or TV time for October.  Your rates will be as much as 50%* cheaper than only booking your schedule two or three weeks ahead of time. Supply and demand. (* varies by station and market)