Are you thinking about it…how your business is like a rodeo? Maybe you’re thinking there are lots of ups and downs like riding a bucking bronco? Maybe you’re thinking speed…zero to 60 in seconds and back to a stop. Or maybe you’re thinking there’s lots of action.

Well, I’m not talking about any of those today. Read on to find out…

One time, I attended a rodeo in a nearby town. The facility was…well, there really wasn’t one. It was conducted on a plot of land that’s plowed up, and special footing was brought in for the event. It was outside, bleachers were hauled in and set up. It’s a once a year event…and they were packed. There were thousands in attendance. We had to wait 25 minutes lined up in the street to get in to park. Then we waited in line another 20 minutes to get into the rodeo area. The ticket price was pretty high. There were no seats left, so we had to stand and catch a glimpse here and there.

Fast forward a month. Another rodeo, but this one in my town in a wonderful facility — a covered arena that was fairly new. Permanent bleachers installed. Excellent footing. Ticket prices were reasonable. There was no waiting line, we could park close and had plenty of options of where to sit. But, boy, what a difference between the two events. In other words, maybe 100 people were there.

So what happened? Why the big contrast in attendance? Well, everyone we talked to all had the same opinion: advertising. The organizers of the second rodeo did very little advertising. They only hung a banner in town (which is a very small town, by the way) on Thursday. The rodeo was on Saturday.

I have to agree with those opinions. For the first rodeo, I saw signs everywhere for the month before the event. For this second rodeo, I only barely saw the banner in town on Friday, and I was looking for it because, well, if it hadn’t been for some friends who do barrel racing in the rodeos, I would not have known about it and I was curious if they put out any signage. I had even looked in the paper the week before (it only comes out once a week) and there was nothing.

Rodeos are loved by most people, but very few people knew it was happening. They lost a lot of money by not doing a better job of advertising.

In your business, are you losing money because you’re not advertising? Yes, advertising can cost money, but you can do it effectively and efficiently. And while a website is considered advertising, are you doing the right things to drive traffic to it? Is it optimized for the search engine? Are you using videos? Are you doing interviews? Do you actively participate in social media?

If you’re a brick and mortar business, signage is important. Direct mail marketing and yellow page ads are means of advertising to consider. Google Places would be another option to look into.

No matter what type of business you are, don’t hold the belief that just because you build it they will come! They have to know you’re there before they can. We’d be glad to help you decipher the different marketing options if you find them to be overwhelming or if what you’re doing now doesn’t seem to be working. Call us for a consultation.