Secret 11: 

Fish where the fish are biting:  This is a way to make your marketing and advertising more local and more effective.  I’m not a fan of mass media.  Companies like Starbucks will do BILLIONS in sales this year with no mass media advertising.  They create buzz and keep it all local.  They literally own the neighborhoods that they want to focus on and you should do the same.  Imagine if you mapped all of your customer’s over the past several years on and really identified just those neighborhoods where you had the most penetration.  That’s where the fish are biting!  Think of how much more business lies in each one of those neighborhoods if you decided to put all of your focus on just those areas.  From radius mailings, to newsletters, birthday cards, to recognizing local events, and even sponsoring a breakfast down at the country club of the neighborhoods you’re prevalent in; they’re all ways to stay local and build your brand where the fish are biting.