Frustration is all around these days as many businesses struggle to get customers in.
Advertising can sometimes be black hole that simply sucks the money out of a business with no return. Therefore, it is not uncommon for business owners to feel that they may be better off not doing any advertising or marketing. Are they right? We will explore this question and find the real answer to the advertising black hole problem.
Advertising vs. Marketing
To begin with we must make sure we are talking about the same thing. The first thing to understand is that these two are not the same.
Advertising as defined by Wikipedia is:
“A form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. Focus is on Ads and commercials in print, audio, or visual.”
The best marketing is a definition that comes from Sergio Zyman the former chief marketing officer of Coca Cola, and author of “The End of Marketing as We Know it” , Zyman defined marketing as:
“Marketing is selling more stuff, to more people, more often, for more money.”
In other words, marketing is a system that is based on a scientific discipline process where the return on investment determines whether or not it is working.
So if a business is running ads in the yellow pages, on the radio, in the newspaper, or Valpak mailer, this is advertising.
By now most business owners know that traditional advertising which focuses on the entertaining does not work. Simply getting people’s attention is not going to get them to buy and therefore can be a waste of money.
As stated above, marketing is a system and it is only effective if there is a market to message match. When a marketing program is designed and implemented properly it becomes one of the most powerful assets of a business.
A properly designed marketing program:
- Will have specific objectives and time frames.
- Will not be all things to all people. Instead it will focus on getting more of the best customers to buy more often for more money.
- There are specific metrics that are constantly tested and adjusted according to the needs and desires of the target audience.
- It will be solely focused on the target market’s needs and not be ego driven
- It can repeat the process every time without having to reinvent the process
Therefore, when a marketing program does use an advertising message it is because the target audience is wanting to be communicated in that way or that is the place to find them.
It is not because:
- It is cheap to advertise in this media.
- The media reaches a bunch of people. remember if they are not your best customers you are wasting your money.
- Everyone in the industry uses that media to advertise or
- It has always been done that way. Akin to the blind leading the blind.
- It is the latest cool technology
- Doing it for the sake of doing something. Hope is not a strategy…
In contrast when done properly a good marketing program will be able to avoid the frustration that many business owners face when simply just advertising.
That being said, there are no magic bullets out there. There is no full proof marketing system that once implemented will bring droves of clients to your front door. It is true that at times a technique used by one business will have great success while the same technique used by a similar business will completely bomb.
The only way that a marketing system is finalized and becomes an asset occurs after the marketing program is launched and then tested to maximize the results.
This means that at times the initial ideas may not work and there will be a cost associated with trying. However, the testing is limited and based on research and not just repeating of the same message with hopes of something happening.
Like anything working and perfecting a system takes time, but it does not have to be based on luck. There are methods and techniques that work well and have a long history of success when used in the right way.
Knowing how to use these techniques and methods is critical to developing that great marketing program. Any business can have a working and profitable marketing program with the right information that will continue to payout for years to come.
If you would like to learn more about effective marketing you are welcome to Test Drive a Bay Area Mastermind session and see for yourself. Bay Area Mastermind also provides services where our marketing experts design and help you implement a fully functional marketing program. Simply call 888-485-8122 and ask for a free consultation and find out what is possible for your business.