Recently, some anonymous person attempted to post a derogatory comment on my recent post about starting my own photography business. Amongst the juvenile name calling, this person said, “I bet you toot your own horn WAY more than anyone has ever tooted it for you.” Now, I’m a big proponent allowing people to voice their own opinions, but I did not publish the comment because the rest of it was simply a sophomoric, uncreative personal attack.
The name calling did not bother me because I’m a little older than 4 years old, but the horn tooting statement made me think. Why, I asked myself, does this person think that calling attention to myself in a business sense is a bad thing? I sat on this for a few days before deciding to address it here.
Advertising is all about tooting your own horn. It’s about telling customers why they should choose you over the next guy. You offer this instead of that, you give better customer service, or the quality of your product is better than the person down the street selling the same thing you are. You are bigger, stronger, faster, better than your competition. To refrain from this kind of communication would be a death sentence for any business. Especially a new one.
So yes, my narrow-minded, anonymous commenter, I will toot my own horn as loud as I can! I will find that which separates me from the other photographers in the area and emphasize it in all of my advertising. I will tell everyone I know about my new business, and bug my friends (thanks, guys!) to spread the word for me as well. If I thought the ROI was worth the sore throat, I would shout about my new venture from the rooftops.
I will toot my own horn because it is essential for any business to succeed.
Whether it is word of mouth, print ads, flyers, business cards, or any other form of advertising, defining what makes you better or different is what sets you apart and helps bring customers to your door. Coca Cola does it when they claim to be the real thing. Bounty paper towels does it by calling their product the quicker picker upper. Smucker’s does it when they say with a name like theirs it has to be good.
So, why in the world should I be ashamed of tooting my own horn? It’s a good thing!
GEE– I cannot IMAGINE who that idiot commenter WAS…. hmmm… let me think–WHO has a wee bit of a grudge…