When I posted about going on a marketing diet a couple weeks ago, Lorraine didn’t see how that would help her business.

“I’d be out of work within weeks, homeless–and my eldest son would have to come home in shame from his semester in Berlin,” she wrote in the comments. “I know–Attitude of Scarcity. But I’ve been freelancing through a few economic cycles.”

And she’s absolutely right.

No one wants their business to starve by stopping all marketing altogether.

Some businesses don’t need to go on marketing diets.

But other businesses need to slim down. Like, a LOT. You know them. They’re ones who email you all the time, pitching you something without ever offering anything in return. They’re the ones who would really benefit from a marketing diet.

And by benefit, I mean they could increase their revenues by reducing their marketing communications. Not just by reducing the number of their communications, but also by changing the kinds of communications they send out.

As Lorraine writes: “The truth: I don’t do mass mailings, just try to stay in touch, stay credible and yes, prove I ‘provide value.’”

Exactly. For some reason, that’s not really a common practice amongst companies. I think it’s a problem of them having too much money and not having to really think about what really works.

Hence, the need for a marketing diet.

Here’s a real-world example of a company that needs to go on a marketing diet.

I’m not naming names. But let’s just say I’m absolutely in LOVE with their product—and I’m their ideal prospect who hasn’t yet made the leap to buy.

I subscribed to their newsletter a few weeks ago, and now they send me a semi-daily email on some kind of sale they’re having.

The copy is adorable, but it’s basically a sales email.

So, I’m getting a sales email from this company every other day.
Even though I subscribed to their newsletter. And not to sales emails. (Paging Seth Godin.)

None of these sales emails is ever going to make me buy from them.

Even though I really want to buy. And tell all my friends about them.

Why not? Because price isn’t the reason I haven’t bought in the first place.

If I was ready to buy, I would have bought already. A sale isn’t going to make me flip the switch.
Instead, I’m mulling over practical concerns like whether I’d really be able to use it enough, if I could lift it up the stairs every day, and what I would do if I needed to use it after dark.

What would be some better ways for them to encourage me to buy?

Here are a few things they could do instead:

• Create a 7-part, 30-day email tour with helpful tips on how to actually use the product to get benefits or solve problems.
• Include success stories about people who are using their products in the real world.
• Start a referral program to get people who already love their stuff telling their friends about it, and reward them with cash or some other incentive.

Doing these things would help them engage the right customers.

It would help prospects like me imagine ourselves actually using the product, and it would help overcome our objections as we read about how people just like us had transitioned to the new and better way of doing things.

Marketing without taking the time to build customer trust is like overeating without lifting weights.

If you take time to build your business muscles, the extra food turns to muscle, not fat.

When you let your marketing build muscles—instead of always trying to stuff sales into your mouth—your business will look a lot more enticing to your ideal prospects in the end. Mmmmm, don’t you just love that new-client smell?

Image by malias via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.