First, for those who don’t know the term, Google defines “MEH” as follows:
meh
me/
informal
exclamation
1.
expressing a lack of interest or enthusiasm.
“Meh. I’m not impressed so far”
adjective
2.
uninspiring; unexceptional.
“a lot of his movies are … meh”
For millions, “meh” describes their feelings toward our industry. Meh. Little interest or enthusiasm. For others, its worse, its NIMBY, meaning “not in my back yard.” There exists a smaller group of MH Enthusiasts, a group which your Masthead scribes counts himself in.
Then there are those who may have a range of emotions, and are either employed in our industry or who live in homes produced by our industry. That groups something like 21 million people (+/-).
If we want to fire up our business and activist results locally and in DC, we need to move more people from apathy – meh – and NIMBY – to interest and enthusiasm.
We’ll explore that more in the days ahead, but one of the ways we do that right now is on MHLivingNews. Millions of visits suggests we are onto something there.
Why Creating MH Enthusiasts Matters
Fabled Zig Ziglar and more recently Stu Schlackman are among those who define… “selling is a transference of emotions or feelings.”
Some get it, others don’t.
For those who don’t yet get it, ALL of us at various times are ‘selling something.’ You may be an educator, a politico, a lobbyist, dance instructor, a parent, priest, business or spiritual leader. You and all are at times ‘selling’ an idea, product, service or a desired outcome.
Schlackman says:
“People don’t buy just for the logical facts about your solution….”
“Fact number one: consider a little brain science. Customers react to a pain 3 times more often than a gain….”
“Fact number two: in order to impact the customer emotions, you need to take them into the future. If you don’t alleviate the problem now, or you wait six months, what happens?…”
“Fact number three: when customers are engaged emotionally with us, you will build stronger relationships….”
Find those:
- pain and pleasure points,
- find the emotional ties and
- sell the sizzle and not the steak.
Upcoming…
We will be looking into the issues raised in Washington, DC during the recent MHI and related Hill meetings. A lot of important items came up. Among those is something we may describe as – sorry – a new threat facing the industry, its retailers and communities. Some of you have already learned this the hard way. For others, its coming. We’ll plan to look into that and more on the weekend Masthead.
Dotting the i’s, crossing the t’s
Let me close by saying that we’re already working on more solutions to Meh.
We first needed a fact-based foundation for those 1 of 4 personality types that want to know every detail. Now that we have that foundation largely in place, we are able to do shorter, higher energy (read, transfer of emotions) videos, images and stories that hold and move the viewers attention. ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com has brought millions of visits with tens of millions of hits.
That’s a vote of confidence, an affirmation from the public that we’re on the right track.
Another vote of confidence are the comments heard from folks who told us that our twice-weekly emailed updates are something they love getting and routinely read.
We hear those thank-you, kudos words face to face, in messages and from our data too! Fact. The click through rate on our emails is – per Mail Chimp – three times the industry average. That’s stratospheric.
That too is a vote of confidence from the masses that tells us we are on the right track.
None of this happens in a bubble. We get LOTS of input, and we value it. This is team work here. Our success is yours too, and your thoughtful input helps us better hit the mark that leads to more success. We can’t do this without sponsors, readers, supporters and those who share their news, views and story tips.
I’ll close by saying that even those with a passion for MH won’t always agree on every issue or every strategy. That’s just human nature.
But what you can count on is that we love the industry, and support the short, medium and long term good for our home owners, business professionals and the public at large. That’s my pledge to you. It’s backed up by years of lived example.
Together, we advance. E Pluribus Unum. “From the many, one.” ##
