My mom had an ant problem this week. She was headed out to the store to pick up some ant spray and I told her about some sort of bait gel that ants will track through and take back to the colony to kill off all the other ants. As I told her about the gel, I could tell that she was barely listening and in the end, she made it clear that the gel was not happening for her.

“I’ve got to kill ants NOW.”

So Mom went to the store and bought the ant spray. And she went home and started spraying the crap out of the evil ants tromping around her house.

The problem? She’s only killing the ants she sees. She’s not doing anything to the ants who haven’t made it into her home yet.

But don’t try to tell my mom that. She’s adamant that the gel isn’t for her; the gel will not work for her situation. 

After that “gotta kill evil ants” conversation (and others) it just hit me that some people are resistant to change in a big way.

The same resistance happens in business and especially in marketing. Business owners get their mind set on a certain way of doing things. And when a problem crops up, they stick with what is comfortable and fail to listen to others’ ideas. Or they think of the here and now and fail to look beyond today.

Let’s face it, when we’re marketing, do we want to use the marketing spray that will attract those we come into contact with for a short time? Or do we want a marketing gel that takes a bit longer but gets out there to the greater population?

A think a little (or a lot) of both seems to be the best solution. What about you?