On budgets…
- Marketing dollars should be spent wisely and in a targeted fashion. This means that we are not fans of ‘brand building’ marketing exercises. For most small businesses (there are a few exceptions), they are a complete waste of time and money. Leave that to Coca Cola.
On what marketing isn’t…
- Marketing is NOT (just) advertising. In fact, one of our marketing plans may not recommend advertising at all initially. Marketing IS the best strategic approach (or approaches) for communicating your unique selling position to the wider world.
On ad hoc marketing…
- Ad hoc marketing will only provide ad hoc results. An ad here, a letter there…oh maybe today I’ll put a website up (I see this all the time). This approach is dangerous because, not only is it inconsistent and unmanageable, but you will usually throw very good money out the window. Why? Because you don’t know WHY you are doing these things. There is no strategy behind it.
On websites…
- Websites need to look good, sure. But more importantly they need to be a marketing tool for your business. If a website doesn’t increase the prospects to your business, it’s not achieving anything other than feeding your ego!
On getting responses…
- If you don’t ask people to respond, they usually won’t! You must be clear in your marketing activities about what the next step in the process is.
On boring…
- You don’t have to be boring in your marketing collateral to be professional. Inject some personality into your marketing efforts and you’ll reap the rewards.
