Is more really less?

I am frustrated. I’ve been directed by a client to yet another “millionaire mind marketing” guru who promises the “secret” formula for success. In a nutshell, the author’s “formula” boils down to the following:

1. Get your message in front of more eyeballs
2. Get more money per eyeball
3. Sell more products to your existing customers on the back end

If step one were truly the foundation for success, then the sock puppet for Pets.com would still be promoting, well, Pets.com.

Now, I’m certain the author of the above “formula” would argue that Pets.com’s explosive failure was due to not executing steps 2 and 3, because looking back, Pets.com did an EXCELLENT job of executing step one. They did SUCH a good job that the sock puppet was still working promoting other businesses for YEARS following Pets.com’s very public demise. If more eyeballs was truly the foundation of a successful business then Pets.com would be thriving today.
But it’s not.

Despite the fact that Pets.com purchased a 30 second ad during the Super Bowl, which is considered to be THE premium method of grabbing eyeballs, the company still shut the doors less than 10 months later. Despite the fact that Amazon owned 30% of the company, they still folded. While the Super Bowl spot landed the sock puppet top of mind awareness, Pets.com wasn’t able to capitalize upon their successful capture of all those eyeballs.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and it turns out most of the dot.com e-tail stores (including pets.com) were not able to offer a compelling reason to shop online. Turns out that it didn’t matter how many “eyeballs” Pets.com captured, they still couldn’t offer a compelling reason for customers to shop at their online store.

In my book, Beyond Niche Marketing, I suggest a “better” way. Rather than try for more eyeballs, try reaching your prospective customers via their ears. Ever notice how you can stare at a page in a book for hours yet not absorb a bit of information, yet you can hear a song or jingle and remember it, without trying, YEARS later. Yeah, that’s the power of touching your target customers via their ears instead of their eyes.