He interrupted me!

By Ken Gasque

There are four rules that are the key to success. We made a poster to illustrate these rules called “The Four Rules of Success.” You will find our posters in elementary, middle, and high schools across South Carolina. We offered the poster to schools and most accepted it because they believed it was a valuable message. You will also find our poster in classrooms, businesses, and institutions across this country and even in China (we offer the poster on our website, and we had a request from Beijing). The following story illustrates the Four Rules of Success.

When I started in business, one of my first clients was a newly formed company that wanted to sell ceiling fans. The only company in America that was manufacturing and selling ceiling fans at that time was Robbins & Myers. They had a 65-year-old fellow named Charlie who was wiring the fans. As soon as Charlie retired, Robin & Myers was going to shut down their ceiling fan business. My client, Bart, the owner of Periculum, believed that there was still a market for ceiling fans. The problem was one of no marketing, and no advertising in years.

Bart did some basic research to prove this theory. He bought a couple of ceiling fans for his home. Installed them and then he sat back and observed the reactions from guests and neighbors.

Based on the reactions we designed some ads and placed them in Southern Living Magazine. These were very small ads—a little more than 1 inch tall by 3 inches wide. Just enough room for some very carefully worded copy and a photo of a 52-inch ceiling fan. At the time, Southern Living offered a special—buy three classified display ads and get three “advertorials” free. The advertorials were basically ads disguised to look like editorial content.

We placed the first ad and waited. Nothing happened. We placed the second ad and waited. Nothing happened. I was worried because, even though these ads were small, they were very expensive. We were reaching 7 million people and nothing was happening.

I was disheartened and I called Bart and told him I didn’t understand what had happened—the message was good, we had a product that I felt was something almost every home could use, and we were reaching the right audience. Bart interrupted me and taught me a valuable marketing /branding lesson. He said, “You have to believe, and have patience—we have the right ad, the right media, and the right product. All we must do is have faith and wait.”

The next month, we ran our first free advertorial. Two weeks later, a letter and a check arrived. The customer wrote, “I have seen your ads for years and finally I asked myself why wait any longer, go ahead and buy the fan and enjoy it.” The consumer’s desire for the produce made it seem like he had seen our ad for years, but we had only run the ad three times over the previous three months. More and more orders and letters followed. Bart believed in advertising, and we expanded the program to Sunset Magazine, Yankee Magazine and many other consumer publications. Periculum revived the dormant ceiling fan business creating manufacturers and retailers of hundreds of businesses. Robbins & Myers became the largest ceiling fan dealer in the country selling tens of thousands of ceiling fans.

Bart followed the Four Rules of Success:

1. Show Up. We advertised Periculum Fans in publications that reached his
audience.

2. Pay Attention. Before he embarked on this venture, Bart purchased a couple of ceiling fans and put it in his house. Then he observed how friends and guest responded to it.

3. Ask Questions. When guest and friends commented on the ceiling fan, he asked if they would ever consider purchasing one.

4. Don’t Quit. This is the most important rule. Marketing and advertising are as necessary to your business as accounting, paying taxes, employees and good credit. A consistent message will build your brand and your revenues.

About Ken Gasque

Ken Gasque is a brand developer, and designer. Ken consults with small and large companies in need of a new brand or to refurbish their existing brand. To learn more, visit Gasque.com