Marketing is made up of many, many, many, many things, all
working together to get the word out about you, your product or
service, and your company. (I purposely repeated the word
"many" many times.)
As small business owners, we cannot afford to use just the one
marketing vehicle of advertising to spread the word about our
businesses, especially since there are so many other free or
low-cost things that can be done to increase revenue. We therefore
have to rely on the many other things that make up a good marketing
attack and put them together in such a way that they work with each
other. Your job as a marketer is to create marketing tactics that
support, reinforce and cross-promote each other.
Of course, every business is different as far as what vehicles
work best and in conjunction with each other. One business might
use these four marketing vehicles:
- Networking
- Direct mail
- PR
- Direct sales
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Another business might use a mix of these 10 marketing
vehicles:
- Advertising
- PR
- Radio
- Cable television
- Networking
- Signage
- Trade shows
- Public speaking
- Article writing
- Coupons
And yet another business might only use:
- Networking
- PR
- Customer referrals
All these tactics might hit the business's target markets as
intended by the marketers and generate a satisfactory amount of
revenue to meet goals, if done on a consistent basis. The
difference in all cases, however, is that the comfort level--both
emotionally and financially--is different for each of the companies
involved. Some companies and marketers, for instance, get
overwhelmed with all there is to do when it comes to marketing;
others like to do as much as possible--these type of business
owners can easily and successfully juggle many balls at one
time.
After a recent speech to an industry association, I was greeted
by someone who appeared to be totally relieved to see me. I asked
her about the sense of relief I could see on her face, and she told
me it was so good to hear that she'd only have to do what she
was comfortable with for her new marketing attack. When I followed
up with her later, I found out she'd been successful with her
campaigns and wasn't trying to do too much at one time: She
launched what she felt comfortable with, what she could afford and
what she could properly do on her own.
Taking on too much at one time risks something being done half
way or, even worse, half right. Customers and prospects notice
things like this. They also notice the marketer who's thorough,
complete and accurate in their marketing efforts.
Jay Conrad Levinson, in his Guerrilla Marketing books,
points out that there are easily hundreds, if not thousands, of
tools, methods, tactics and strategies you can use to market your
business--and that your competition is probably only using a few.
He also emphasizes that if you just use a few more--but use them
effectively-you'll dominate your industry, your marketplace and
certainly your area of expertise.
It's also important for you to understand that customers and
prospects react differently to different marketing weapons.
That's why guerrilla marketing's basic premise is that you
need multiple marketing weapons in your marketing attack to
properly address your target market.
Marketing positioning guru Al Ries once said, "When you try
to be all things to all people, you end up being nothing."
This is just another way of saying you can't do it all, so do
what's comfortable and do what you can afford.
Examine all the ways you market your business. Keep using those
that work, get rid of the ones that don't, and fix the marginal
ones--if they're fixable. Then add new weapons from time to
time. Soon you'll have a set of methods and tactics for
generating business and growth. You'll find new comfort levels,
and your marketing will grow as your business does.