I ran into one of my close buddies from the Southside the other day at the gas station…
S: Wassup D??
D: Heyyy…what’s up!? (smiling and exchanging the strong grip with the one armed hug…the standard ‘macho’ man embrace)
S: Mane…n***s been checking you out!! You all on the internet and sh*t!!
D: (smiling) Yeah..I’ve put myself ‘out there’ a little bit.
S: That's what you GOT to do if you want to blow up on the scene.
D: That’s what they tell me..have you checked out the website?
S: Yeah! We were all over to P-Dub’s house looking at some of them butt nekkid pictures on the internet and he pulled up your page.
D: Did you READ it?
S: I read that one you had about ‘Hittin Licks’..mane..that sh*t was WILD!! And you KNOW it must have been good, cuz I don’t even like to read!!
D: Well…I’m glad ya’ll checked me out.
S: Yeah..we was thinking that you need to put some pictures of some h*z bending over a car or something..you know..spice it up a bit!
D: What?? Mane..I can’t do that!! It’s not that kinda party!
S: So? If you’re trying to get more ‘customers’ you need to put some ‘eye candy’ out there for all the people that don’t really like to read. H*ll..if I didn’t KNOW you, I wouldn’t have even bothered to stop and look at the page.
D: You’ve got a point.
S: Your content is good, but your presentation is kinda boring and bland…an orange background?? What the h*ll is up with that??!!
D: I publish the website myself, the page layout, or ‘template’ , is just a standard one that I picked out. My focus right now is strictly on content, but I’ll eventually upgrade to a professional website design.
S: Whateva n*ga…if you’re trying to draw in a large group of people, you need to focus your marketing on people who don’t normally read. Cuz all your ‘college’ friends are going to read it anyway..but most of these people in the hood are just going to look for some pictures that catch their eye.
D: Eye candy huh?
S: Allready!! No matter what you do, if you want to be big, you’ve got to be KNOWN baby.
D: Hmmm..I guess photos DO attract a larger audience..
S: You gotta have that VISUAL presentation as bait, once you get them IN, your sh*t is good enough to sell itself!
D: Yeah..you do have a good point.
S: And I ain’t even no COLLEGE boy like you..but I know what it takes to attract customers!
D: I’ll have to work on upgrading my website.
S: Well..even if you don’t put some skin shots on there, put something that will make people just browsing through stop and look.
D: Like what??
S: (smiling to reveal his all platinum grill) Girls, guns, money, candy red cars...whateva turns heads n*ga…
After we parted, I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head. Of all the marketing and sales solutions seminars and presentations that I have sat through in my life, it took a high school dropout to make me fully understand the ultimate goal of marketing. One of the basic truths about a free capitalistic economy, is that the consumers have a choice on where and when they spend their time and money. In most industries, there are at least 2 or more companies pitching the same product or service. Advertising (signs, commercials, flyers, free giveaways, etc.) is the core attraction for new customers. The quality of the product is what attracts REPEAT customers. All this time, I had been thinking that the hustlers driving those ‘candy’ colored cars with the chrome ‘shoes’ and booming sound system was just about looking good. In actuality, a lot of people who ride candy are really just advertising themselves or their product or service. “You gotta be KNOWN” is a marketing truth, and in most black neighborhoods, people definitely identify you with the vehicle that you drive. The sparkling candy painted cars attract the most attention and it makes people look and see who’s driving..every time.
The gray areas of advertising can easily lead to exaggeration or in some cases, just flat out lying. I’ve been duped many times by advertised pictures of mouth watering juicy burgers, with the meat patties just hanging out the sides of the bun, loaded with fresh tomatoes and lettuce. Then when I order what I see on the picture, I end up getting a dried out piece of meat that I had to remove the bun just to SEE the patty. These are those ‘one hitta quitta’ type operations who really don’t care about repeat customers, they just want to mesmerize the masses at least one time and move on to the next sucker. We all have our choices on how we advertise ourselves. Even if you don’t have your own business or product to sell, you’re trying to sell your skills to a potential employer. Resumes are a great example of advertising yourself. Some people take ‘liberties’ in describing their background and experience, with the sole intent of attracting the right manager’s attention. Other’s just flat out lie and make up stuff on their resumes because they realize that they really haven’t learned or accomplished anything since high school. Either way, everybody should be trying to ‘turn heads’ with the material they put out concerning themselves.
So many want success in their field of choice, but so few are willing to pay the price for this success. Exposure into the public’s eye can be a daunting experience. Everybody isn’t ready to handle all eyes focusing on them in a crowded room. Everybody isn’t ready to handle the examination and public critique of their labor. Because for every positive response, there’s always a negative one to go with it. Personally, I encourage ALL responses of my work, whether they’re negative or positive, because they both make me better. With the family and friends that I have grown up with, its practically impossible to embarrass me. If I’ve got a booger hanging out of my nose or my zipper is open, they’ll let me know. And I appreciate them for it, because that’s the only way to keep it real. I’m not riding in a candy red car nor do I have women in thongs displayed on my website, instead I‘ll continue to use my words to turn heads. (smile)
