What does clothing and what you wear have to do with MEDIA?
Our mission at Wilson Media Consulting is to help small business succeed, and part of what we do is help develop a “Big-Picture” Marketing plan, which yes, should include a mentioning of your wardrobe.
There’s no reason for your business to pay us to help you develop a sales and marketing strategy if you’re going to blow it with inappropriate clothing. I realize that sounds harsh, but the bottom line is that we want you to be successful. Your success is our success.
So what’s up with your clothes?
I just read a recent article on Payscale.com discussing the topic of how dressing correlates with how much you get paid. It turns out that sometimes your wardrobe has no correlation with your payscale, and other times it does. Feel free to check out the article for more details, but I just want to touch base with you on one point here:
Even if you're super hot, please wear pants and a shirt to a board of directors presentation.
Know Your Crowd!
If you live in North Idaho, there may be circumstances where business casual is much more preferable over formal attire. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that just because the people your serving dress a certain way that you should be able to dress that way, too.
Here’s a good example:
If you’re giving a presentation to a board of directors in an effort to convince them to hire your firm over another firm, DRESS UP! I won’t mention names, but I know an owner of a business who showed up to just such a presentation (in front of an entire board of directors) in shorts and a t-shirt. Really? Shorts and a t-shirt? Really?
And guess which firm was hired for the job? Not his! Even if you live in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, or anywhere else in North Idaho (or another small town), it’s not ok to show up in shorts and a t-shirt for a big formal presentation.
This particular owner was considered a joke. It’s one of the only things the board of directors remembered about his presentation, and it made such a negative impact on them that they continued to talk about it long after the presentation. What a reputation killer!
Bottom Line: Don’t screw up your awesome marketing strategies by looking like a slob. But don’t overdress and make people feel uncomfortable either. Dress appropriately. And if you don’t know what that means, give us a call and we’ll help.