Are you “Giving” your customers your all?
This may sound strange but the advertising department at Western Horseman doesn’t make selling ads our first priority. Now this might sound strange since we all know advertising revenue is a significant contributor to the bottom line of any successful magazine. Let me explain. What we do instead is concentrate on helping every business we work with discover new and creative ways to grow market share by improving their marketing initiatives, and if the engaged reader base Western Horseman delivers through print and online fits the customer profile of a business, then advertising is purchased as a by-product of this process-not as the end result. This is called a consultative approach characterized by striving to be problem solvers rather than ad sellers. These monthly newsletters are just one small example of the many initiatives we continue to create to help you find new ways to meet the marketing needs of your business.
Marketing Tip: “Are you Giving your customers your all?”
Zig Zigler turned 83 this year. After establishing himself as a successful salesman, he started a new career as a motivational speaker at age 43 and for four decades, he has touched an estimated 25 million people with the following simple message:
“If you help enough people get what they want and need you can get what you want and need.”
His simple “giving” approach to business and life defines everything Zig so adamantly believes in. As you examine your business philosophy in this free enterprise, competitive, dog-eat-dog business culture we live in, are you truly “giving” your all when it comes to your customers? When you think of your customers, is “what can I give them?” the first question you ask yourself each day? Or, are you thinking of profits first? If so, stop for a minute and reflect on what Zig Zigler has been saying for years about helping and “giving”. Like I said earlier, Western Horseman made a commitment many years ago to put our advertising partner’s wants and needs first. Instead of being “tellers and sellers” we became “listeners and learners”. This process has helped us create new marketing opportunities in the face of a rapidly changing economic environment. Not only has this approach made us far more successful, but it has been a lot of fun. Here is an email reply we received from Verna at Brighton Saddlery, one of our long time advertising partners, after receiving our recent June sales newsletter.
“I Don’t know if I can reply to this [newsletter], but I would like to let you know that I appreciate your little newsletters. I always read them and love your input. This is timely since I just sent a similar request out to all of our vendors to see what we can do to make our 33RD ANNUAL SADDLE SALE unique and different. After so many years it seems to need a bit of spicing up and I was trying to encourage our vendors to give us that exact information. What is new and different in their industry? Roger and I have failed at many things but we always try to FAIL FORWARD! Thanks for all you do for the western industry. Keep up the good work.” Verna
October in Western Horseman: Featuring horse health, arena all-stars, capturing feral cattle, Australian Stock Horses in the Rockies, Artist’s Larry Bute and Karen Bonnie, rodeo and breast cancer awareness, “Stock Dog Savvy”, inaugural Battle In the Saddle results, and much more.
In addition, the October issue of Western Horseman features the Horse Health Special Advertising Section. Give me a call to learn how you can get valuable advertorial support by choosing to advertise in this informative section
A Little Something Extra:
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
Winston Churchill (British Orator, Author and Prime Minister during World War II. 1874-1965)