What Does Successful Marketing and Advertising Look Like?

Having been educated and gained experienced in just about every category of marketing and advertising in the past 9 years as well as education and experience in business practices there has been this GAPING HOLE in my thought process as to why marketing and advertising is so subjective and can't seem to be defined. I've always thought, couldn't this be more objective and provide more evidence of its usefulness other than just making a cool design and hoping people like it? Or is that all there is to what I do?

After keeping silent for years as I took notes, observed, and learned I still had the disconnect and started to speak out about it. Part of this disconnect came from the reality of our economy tanking in 2001 and me trying to figure out why what I did was important to businesses that my work was being sold to. I don't ever want to have my head in the sand. Without this school of hard knocks and the dip in advertising over the past few years I might still be satisfied with the status quo. Unfortunately, a lot of business owners as well as advertising agencies DO have their head in the sand, even after they experienced 2001 when their sales dropped tremendously. But, businesses are slowly moving back to their old, costly, and ineffective ways of advertising because it's the only format that they understand. Then the parallel with the advertising industry itself and the millions of philosophies on what marketing and advertising actually provides, and what the goal should be. It's enough to make your head spin. And it makes me want to cuss and throw a tantrum and smack people who are feeding lies or those that just don't get it no matter how many times you tell them. I'm sure you are wondering, "How so?" Glad you asked.

There is so much BAD information out there that it's really hard to come up with the good. Most people in "marketing" say that advertising and marketing are separate entities from sales. These people have missed the point. Tell that to someone who needs sales for their company to survive. Tell them to spend $100k on brand awareness with the possibility, but no guarantee, of getting more people to recognize your brand (truth) when they actually tell you that you will get more prospects and sales (false). This is what you call guessing, a blind hope, with your head in the sand. I've seen people fall for it time and time again. I've even seen crafty sales executives throw in a "prize" for the owner that buys the most ad space. You know the prize right? A vacation trip to Tahiti. And how does a vacation trip provide more business prospects for them? Um, let me think, none. So, the client basically tossed $70,000 in the air hoping that his "ad campaign" will stick for him long enough to actually get some clients. The other $30,000 that was supposed to be invested in the campaign to get more clients in reality paid for his trip to Tahiti! What a great treat! And guess what they get after the campaign is over? Nothing. They don't have new trusted customers or even potential leads. Hmm. Well, that's odd right?

I've worked for these sales con-artists, they've been my boss. They've taken the lie themselves that they actually make a large difference in helping these business' sales. But, what's the point if it doesn't actually connect with individuals which in turn generates more prospects? Possibly converting to closes? Or maybe making sales pitches a little bit easier? Something? Can we track anything? Does this seem more difficult than we thought in the beginning? Anyone else see this at all? I will admit, there are a few companies like Coca-Cola, Aflac, Starbucks that are actually successful at building a brand and would say their investment has paid off, a little. For example, if an Aflac representative comes to your door and he hands you an Aflac duck when you open the door you aren't immediately pissed off that he's wasting your time. Any other insurance salesman would make you mad right off the bat but with Aflac you have a 2 second grace period on behalf of "the duck". Now, let me ask, how much did they spend to get that 2 second grace period? More money than anybody has ever seen except for Bill Gates. Certainly more money than most mid-level or small companies have the luxury to put forth. Are there smarter and more effective ways to get the same 2 second grace period or the same recognition in the marketplace AND actually help your business close a sale? Without a doubt, yes YES YES! I'm determined to continue moving closer and closer to that exact end. To be continued. Meanwhile, please cut off your crappy sales commercial that is interrupting everyone in the middle of a tv show that they wish they could be watching.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

Your confidentiality will not be compromised.

Narrowly Define and Focus

All along your advertising, marketing, and sales should have been grouped together under the same direction of "getting new clients" focusing on a defined target market and pursuing prospective clients. This only works when all three avenues of creating clients lines up with how your business is defined. What is your core business and what is your strategy and goals to effectively target and reach prospects of your core business? First, what is your core business? Focus on the product or service that creates 70% of your business. Then, find the mediums of getting clients that create the most return. If you aren't getting any sort of true representation of what the medium is producing in regard to prospects or physical clients then you need to find out how you can know for sure. What is actually driving your business? You must know as much of a full answer to this question as possible in order to plan your resources (aka money) accordingly and get a great ROI.

Scenario: You advertise in radio, tv, and internet and decide that you need to cut back advertising because the budget isn't there and you determine to cut back everything the same amount. Then try and rationalize this decision. Is this because you don't know which medium is most effective in reaching your target market? Is this because you consider brand awareness in a healthy dose of all advertising methods a good method for brand awareness? But how much is converting to sales? Maybe you knew the rate of return your advertising and marketing had 10 years ago but do you know the response you are receiving from your advertising choices now? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking on a consistent basis and know the answer AUTOMATICALLY. If you do not, you may be throwing money out the door, infact, you probably are.

Narrow focus on a core strategy that gets 70% of your business. This is 2 fold: First, draw in customers for a specific product or service. Example: If you're a car dealer but 70% of your sales is trucs, you need to focus on advertising to truck buyers. Get specific with who a truck buyer typically is. Differentiate yourself in this way. Narrowly define yourself to the public, give them an opportunity to respond. Then when they do, you can provide the other products or services you sell once you already have gained their trust and credibility.

Second, focus on "getting new clients" in mediums that get more reach, more frequency, and cost less to market to your target demographic.

What is available is changing rapidly. Do your homework or hire someone with experience and whose job it is to keep up with trends and learn what gives your company the greatest benefits for its investment dollars. Ever heard of value investing? This is value marketing. Same concept, different application. The market buys when everythig is going well and gets bad results. The market sells when everything is going down, which is the worst time to sell. Don't be a product of your emotions or of what the market says. Determine value by a strict standard of measuring the company's results. If you can't measure the results effectively, then get out and find something that you know the direct result of your efforts.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:
Your confidentiality will not be compromised.