Getting The Word Out

I blog. I Twitter. I write newsletters. I do direct mailings. I email to customers who sign up for our updates. I dont, however pay for ad's on Google, Bing or Yahoo. I sign up for free listings, here, there, and everywhere. My goal: To get exposure to a wide variety of potential customers without breaking the bank.

I want to let everyone know that our company, Mountain View Medical Supply has THE BEST prices in our area, and sometimes in your area, or on the internet! Seriously, it blows my mind how much other companies charge for the exact same items we have in our store.

I blame overload. Consumers are overloaded with impertinent information. At home, I toss my blue enveloped coupons that supposidly has an "87% open rate". I toss fliers left on my door. I toss the Wednesday delivered ad's in my mailbox. I delete unsolicited email offers. Recently, we received what appeared to be a card and handwritten message from an HVAC company owner that wanted me to feel special. Upon further inspection, it was just a new fandangled way of printing so that it looked handwritten, when, in fact, it was not.

So, like most people, I become skeptical and hardened to marketing. I unsubscribe, I sign up for "do not mail" lists, "do not deliver" lists and "unsubscribe" lists. I dont want your stuff! If I want it, I'll come find YOU!

But then I surf and search for you, and because you dont pay for ad's on Google, Bing or Yahoo, I cant easily find you. I can't find you in the phone book because you dont pay for ad's or listings anymore because the internet is making phone books obsolete.

And so we talk. One of the owners of our company met the head of a wound department at a major hospital, randomly over the weekend. He had never heard of our company, even though I have sent our information to his hospital, several times. I now have his card and an open invitation to provide him brochures on our wound care supplies, so he can help his patients.

How do we find each other so we can work with each other without middle men such as search engines or yellow pages?

I try to be more aware of the businesses in my community, and spend my dollars with my neighbors. I also ignore "paid" advertisements on the internet. I try to find local companies, even if they are 4 or 5 pages into my search results. If I need to buy a specialty item online, I try to find a mom-and-pop shop with great customer reviews that will likely provide me great customer service, should I need help.

If you look hard enough, you will find us. And hopefully in the process we can help each other out while cutting out the middle man that invariable raises everyone's costs.