How is spearfishing like marketing your small business?
Imagine you're living on some remote island and you need to catch a fish to survive and feed your family.
Sound familiar?
It's kind of like being a small business owner.
As a small business owners we need to make each dollar count and make the sale to survive.
When we start our business, many of us roll the dice and give it everything we've got. We put it all on the line just like the spear fisherman does every day.
What can we learn from a spear fisherman about marketing our small business?
As a spear fisherman you sit and watch the fish, you study them, you learn their habits.
You see schools of little fish swimming by you, but you're not interested in them. You wait!
- You are confident!
- You have the right tools!
- You know exactly what you're looking for!
- You track your prey!
Then, when you see that perfect fish you take the shot and make it count!
You catch the big fish that will feed you and your family for many days.
Here's an image of Craig O'Connor with his record setting 77 pound yellowtail.
How does this relate to marketing our small business?
A spear fisherman knows what he's looking for.
Craig O'Conner didn't mess with the little fish he wanted that prize winning Yellowtail.
You need to know your target audience!
- Are they moms?
- Are they teens?
- Are they retired men?
- Where do they swim?
A spear fisherman knows where the prize winning fish hang out.
They go there and they wait.
They don't sit at home and say well maybe they will come to me.
You need to be where your target audience is.
- Are they at the mall?
- Are they on Pinterest?
- Are they on YouTube?
- Are they at the local business meeting?
No matter what kind of business you have, you need to be where your customers hang out and find a way to get in front of them.
What's your spear?
A spear fisherman knows the best tools for his job.
You need to figure out what the best tools are for your job.
You need to study, implement, test and track what works and what doesn't.
Learn as much as possible from those that have come before you and what has worked for them.
Use proven marketing tools and tactics to maximize the return on your investment!
You can't do everything.
Pick and choose the most effective tools for the task and then make them count just like the spear fisherman does.
- Maybe it's PPC ads
- Maybe it's Squeeze Pages
- Maybe it's handing out flyers at the mall
- Maybe it's offering a free download
Who knows?
But, whatever it is, pick one thing, put it into place and track it, get some statistics on it.
Then when you make changes you will know if the change was good or bad.
Set your expectations accordingly
A spear fisherman takes years to develop his skills and master his craft.
Take one step at a time.
Don't go too fast.
Learn how to do whatever it is you need to do.
- Test it
- Track it
- Analysis it
Now you have a baseline. Tweak it and test it again. See how your results change.
Maybe you'll get lucky and find the right tool immediately, but don't expect overnight success.
Most important of all don't quit on a bad day!
That prize winning yellow tail is just about to swim by and you need to be on the ready!
Recent Comments
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Hi Wayne! Wow! I am getting ready to go spearfishing! Love your analogy! As always, so helpful, so to the point! You will help all of us be as successful as we possibly can! Thank you!
Thanks, glad you liked it. Feel free to share it with others. I try to make blog posts that are sharable, I will be sharing them on websites and emails I send out. It's yet another affiliate link we can post.
Although I like your article and message, I hate fishing. I am not patient enough for it. Actually, I think I would enjoy deep sea fishing. So, I will look at my prospecting and advertising as a deep sea fishing adventure.
It is a very good and profound way to put it even though I do not fish very often I get the principle and I know that I need to understand the process better, the internet is a vast ocean and as you say it is finding that spot, so send the radar my way lol thanks for sharing Wayne enjoyed the read
I have always loved the metaphor fishing has when representing an online business. There are so many correlations between the two and I love how you have uncovered many of them here.
Another thing that all great fisherman have is persistence and patience. These are the two virtues of a successful business as well and those that realize that these qualities are important.
If you are patient for your website rankings they will happen. If you are persistent on being an expert within your niche, it will happen.
A great lesson on fishing and understanding your audience here Wayne! :)
First off, Thank you Kyle! I'm so honored to have you comment and appreciate my post. ;-)))) Big Grin!
Second, to the rest of you, see how it works. Kyle has "always loved the fishing metaphor" and my headline lured him in to see what I had to say. That just proves that this stuff works. I've written quite a few blog posts already and maybe Kyle has read them, maybe now, but this is the first one that he felt compelled to comment on and take action.
This is exactly how marketing works!
Funny thing is that I don't fish all that often! I just love the metaphor value because there so much in common between a good fisherman and a business man.
And even the fish, you can see relevance. The dumb fish that chase the shiny objects are the ones that get caught (I actually posted about this).
I have definitely read a goo deal of your posts and they are all great Wayne. Keep it up man!
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Very good one again, Wayne
Thanks ;-)