Renting a storefront, putting up a sign, and doing Social Media posts is not a recipe for success. We’ve seen too many local businesses fail because they don’t understand the need for REAL ADVERTISING whether it’s here, WGAW Radio, TV, Direct Mail, flyers, or shouting from the rooftops.
Investopedia has a helpful article on the top 6 reasons why new businesses fail. It’s worth a read, CLICK HERE.
Editorial: Threshold of 3 Violated Daily in Greater Gardner MA
It’s a simple concept violated daily by local officials, business owners, non-profit operators, and individuals – failure to cross the threshold of 3. The average person needs to be exposed to something about 3 times in order for it to sink in. That means relying on Facebook posts alone has caused the failure of information to get across and contributed to the demise of local businesses.
Every business, organization, or government entity should have a website and post ANY material there (on the home page) of whatever is important enough to post on Social Media. Only about 3 percent of the membership of any one Facebook Group visit on any given day – no more than a few hundred people. Gardner Magazine has thousands of daily visits. WGAW has thousands of daily listeners. Thousands watch TV. Thousands get their mail. It’s important for businesses to do REAL advertising, reaching people often, crossing the threshold of 3, and building the business. Only 25% of new businesses make it to the 15 year mark. But those with an organized advertising plan rarely fail.
Let me give you some local examples of those who didn’t really advertise and failed in Downtown: Crown Chicken (not once, but twice), the Nutrition Shake Shop (not once but twice), a downtown fashion store which lasted about 2 months, a bridal shop, a thrift shop, and the grocery store on the corner of the Garbose Building. New business coming in to Gardner is wonderful. Keeping a business afloat requires avoiding the violation of the Threshold of 3. Real success requires some sort of planned, real promotion which yes, costs some money, but not as much as you think. And certainly not as much as the heartache of having to close your doors.