Everyone is fond of the story of Dorothy and her three friends as they journeyed off down the Yellow Brick Road with the hopes of earning the favor of the great Wizard of Oz. Each of them was in need of something—much like your business strategy. So what if your company was the group trotting down the Yellow Brick Road? How would the gifts of Oz improve your business?
Like the Scarecrow, You Need a Brain
Good business is smart business, and the same goes for marketing. While this includes clever copy, it also means that you need to have a fundamental understanding of what works for you and your business. This could come in the form of consumer research, customer surveys, or data gathered about the success of advertisements with tools like call tracking, but the point is, if you’re going to be successful, you need to be smart, and that means making smart decisions based on actual data.
Like the Tin Man, You Need a Heart
Don’t approach your customers and prospects the way a hunter approaches prey. They’re not prey to be stalked: they’re people and organizations that you will soon be building relationships with. This means you need to find a way for them to see your heart: whether it’s by sending emails keeping them updated on changes in the company and product, placing phone numbers on your ads and website that enable them to reach you if you have questions, or creating customer advocacy positions in your staff to ensure customer needs are met. Don’t just be a voice on a phone or a logo online. Be a name that your customers trust and love.
Like the Lion, You Need Courage
Sometimes becoming a successful business is more than just providing a service or selling a product: you have to step out into the great unknown and do something different, and that requires some bravery. Have the courage to break the rules, to take some risks. If you’re doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always had.
And Like Dorothy, You Need A Home
This one goes for your employees. As Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro says, “A strong company is not built on the backs of employees, but in their hands.” Your employees are the ones who will truly propel your business to success, so your company should be more than a place where they slave away for 40 hours a week: it should be a home. If you want the people selling your product to believe in it, you need to believe in them and show them their worth.
Hopefully your company is free of flying monkeys, but a little Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion never hurt anyone. Luckily for you, you don’t need to ask Oz for these gifts. You can get more strategy for better business right here in our free 54-page eBook: The Definitive Guide to Voice-Based Marketing Automation.