For the past few evenings, I've observed an American Toad sitting along the edge of my small pond calling out to any passing female toads that found his message appealing. The sound, a long high pitched shrill, is quite distinctive, especially in spring. I've had this happen to me once before at a different location and that led to me relocating hundreds of tadpoles (since female toads lay 4000-8000 eggs)!!
Last night, he wasn't around any longer. So that means one of two things ... he was successful at attracting his target (which I'll know soon enough) or he wasn't and has decided to move on.
His efforts to attract a mate made me think of our word of mouth messages that we use to attract our target market. I wonder if our message is appealing enough to our target market to encourage them to seek us out? Is anyone listening? More importantly, are the right people listening?
Believe it or not, some people don't even know who their target market is! If that's the case, I can be fairly certain that their word of mouth marketing message is not going to pack a punch.
In reality, it really doesn't matter if YOU like the sound of your message. What really matters is if your TARGET MARKET likes the sound of your message. You need to be saying what they need to hear. When you've accomplished that, your target market will seek you out from the crowd. And ... when you've trained others how to share that same message on your behalf, you then have a chorus singing your song!
Imagine if my little toad had a chorus helping him to attract his mate. Do you think his odds of success would improve?
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