Fly Your Business Like a Hot Air Balloon

Hot air balloons are amazing.  Last night I took the boys to the Strathaven balloon festival.  It was magnificent. I had never realised how much preparation went into lifting a hot air balloon.

Each team spent so long laying out the balloon on the ground perfectly.   They filled the balloon with air then turn on the burners to heat it.

As the balloon started to rise above the basket it wobbles from side to side.  The pilot would turn the flame up and down each time the balloon wobbled in order to steady it.

Only when the balloon was absolutely perfect were the ropes untied from the vehicles holding them down and the balloons allowed to rise above the park.  An astonishing sight, as one after another the balloons took to the air.

If the pilots had just jumped into the basket and turned the flame on they would have gone nowhere.   The planning and preparation to get a hot air balloon off the ground are crucial to a successful flight.

The similarities between getting a hot air balloon in the air and our marketing is amazing. How many people just jump in that basket, turn on the flame and wonder why they aren't gaining height?

I see it all the time.  The posts on Facebook encouraging people to buy their service, the postcard in the shop window doing likewise.  Even the 15 million tweets shouting about how great they are. These are all the same as those pilots turning on the flames without the preparations.

For marketing, your preparations are not laying out balloons and filling them with air, but rather understanding your market, their pain, problem and fear, and crafting a killer message.

Just like the balloon wobbles, so too does our marketing.  We need to be prepared to keep tweaking things before the market, message and medium are perfect.  Only then should we turn up the flame and really let the campaign take off.

How does your marketing compare? Are you the pilot who lays out the balloon, fills it with air, heats it gently, steadies the balloon and only then unites the rope? Or do you turn on the flame and hope for the best?