They suck up a big percentage of the channels available to the late-night viewer until early morning. But, wait…there’s more! There’s also the 24-hr shopping networks doing their best to take your money.

Although you can glean some good marketing ideas from these pushy mega commercials, this is not the sole method to market your service or product. Here is an example of a different approach to marketing…

Think about the soap operas. They all have something in common. The end of every show leaves you hanging and wanting more. Naturally you tune in the next day to see what happened.

This is an excellent example of subtle marketing. Subtle marketing doesn't attempt to get you to part with your money. It asks, instead, that you part with your time which is, in the end, the same thing. When someone parts with their time, you essentially are controlling them on an emotional level, and therefore have them in the palm of your hand. Once you have connected with your customer emotionally, just transfer their enthusiasm over to your product or service. If you then deliver on the product or service, as promised, you will have a customer for life.

The subtle marketing method is perfect for the business owner that has a website that offers information, feedback, and reviews, while pushing their products subtly along with it. This type of site gets the visitor to spend time, feeds on the emotion and ego of prospective customers, and creates "fans" of the site. And what does that do? It sells product, and creates repeat business.

Repeat business is the key to making big money. If you offer an inferior product or service and do not give your customers a reason to do business with you again, you will spend all your time and money working to get new customers. Keep this in mind: The best customer you will have is the customer you already have.

Having to continually market your product or service to prospective customers just to stay even with your "customer count" will never be to your benefit. Often, business owners who offer a shoddy product or service and find themselves in this position never admit the truth. Or possibly they don't know how to not have a sub-standard product or service. Maybe they don't have the know-how to improve their product or service without a loss in revenue, so they feel they are stuck in this mode.

Don't ever think for a moment that you are trapped and can't move forward. Every good businessperson knows there is a work-around for every predicament. It might take a bit longer to find the answer to one problem and less time for another, but the immutable fact remains--there IS a solution to every problem.

All you need to do is to make a commitment to finding that solution.

Second point: you certainly can't find a solution in the middle of chaos. You need to cultivate the ability to step outside the problem and view it with fresh eyes. If you can’t see the forest for the trees, it’s possible you might need to hire a business consultant. Once you have examined the entire situation, rather than simply a piece of it you will be able to solve just about anything.

Note: to be successful, you need to take a cold, hard look at your business, and not from an emotional perspective. Do you want to make money, or just babysit your "baby?"

Back to hard sell vs. soft sell marketing...