Can Bad Marketing Make You Fat?
March 22, 2011
OK, so bad marketing can’t really make you fat. BUT it can cause your business to be out of shape, inefficient, sluggish, and unhealthy.
Leading a healthy lifestyle can be challenging. If eating right and exercising were easy we’d all be svelte, fit, slenderellas. But the fact is we’re not. For many of us choosing healthier alternatives is a learned behavior and it takes practice, dedication, and commitment. It means saying “no” to the convenience of Big Macs, Little Debbies, and elevators and “yes” to fish, broccoli and the stairs. In short, it means changing old habits, and doing what is right instead of what’s easy and focusing on the bigger picture instead of immediate gratification.
A Healthy Body and a Healthy Business
The same is true of building a successful business: in order for our businesses to be the best they can be we need to take care of them. But many business owners get bogged down in old habits, convenience, lack of education, and a real understanding of what it takes to effectively and efficiently get customers in their doors. Like our bodies, we have to give our businesses the proper nutrients and exercise if they are to be strong and healthy. The marketing “nutrients” a business needs are: planning, strategy, continuous education and research. And the “exercise” is the execution of the proper tactics = doing the right stuff, not just thinking about doing the right stuff. So, I’ve made a list of 4 practices for marketing a successful business.
4 Diet Strategies We Can Apply To Create Strong, Healthy And Sustainable Businesses:
1. It takes planning – If I don’t plan what I’m going to eat, when I get hungry I’ll grab whatever is convenient – whether it’s good for me or not – simply because it bears a small semblance to actual food. This is exactly what many small business owners do: without a plan they latch on to any marketing or advertising idea that comes along because it bears a semblance to “marketing” or promises to satiate a need for more customers. Buy buying the wrong advertising to get more business is just like grabbing that chocolate cupcake to nourish your body; you’re just consuming empty calories to stop the gnawing hunger pains, losing sight of the bigger picture, and hoping for impossible results.
2. It takes imagination – Broccoli and chicken breast get old fast. If I had to live on that for the rest of my life, I’d have thrown in the towel long ago. In order to be a success with a new food strategy, I need to get creative and try out some new flavors, new spices, and new recipes. The same is true with your marketing. Don’t get bland! Don’t copy what your competitors are doing. Take some risks; try some new combinations, new words, new packages, and new offerings. Spice it up!
3. It takes discipline – Does one day of eating well and exercise get you to your ideal weight or optimal health? NO! Well one ad, one direct mail campaign, or one promotion isn’t going to get your business where you want it to go either… You need to make a commitment to the process. If you don’t have the discipline to stay focused on the big picture you’ll be tempted to fall back into old habits; purchasing those 1000-callorie marketing cupcakes that do nothing but send you on a sugar roller coaster!
4. It takes time to see results – we don’t get overweight and/or unhealthy overnight and we don’t get healthy overnight. We also don’t build businesses overnight. Building a brand, credibility, and trust takes time. Don’t give up too early…don’t get desperate and grab that 1000 calorie marketing cupcake = an expensive ad or campaign you know deep down isn’t right for you but fills a momentary need for instant gratification…
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way – if you like this post, I would REALLY appreciate your ReTweet! Thank you!!!! 
How Well Do You Know Your Business?
February 6, 2011
As we all know, times have been tough for small business and most small business owners realize they need to do something different if they want to survive. But what they don’t quite get is that they need to change how they think about their business. They call me and say, “I need your help” and then they go on to tell me HOW I need to help them. Twice now in the past month 2 small business owners have called me – one has been around for more than 20 years, another only a few months – barely surviving and seemingly desperate for help.
I spend the first 20 minutes or so listening to them, asking questions, learning about their business, the marketing efforts they’ve tried, and what their challenges are. What I hear is that like 99% of the small business owners I meet they’re caught up in the same old old-school way of thinking. “If I just find that one magic “thing” that works my business will take off: a new magazine ad, a ne
w packaged marketing method for my industry, a new direct mailer, a new sign on my storefront, a new yellow pages ad….”
Inevitably, after getting all of their experiences, concerns and worries off their chests they’ll sigh and confide, “I’m desperate, I don’t know what to do. How can you help me?” I tell them it’s really pretty simple. I can help them study and understand their business, their industry and their customers and then use that information to advertise and market their businesses more effectively. Then I’ll ask, “Do you know your target market? Do you know what makes them buy when they buy and what makes them choose you? Do you know what makes you truly unique in your marketplace?” The answer is usually the same, “Wow, no I don’t really know those things…”
Here comes the “But….”
“But….. I just need this…. Or I just need that… “
What it boiled down to is that they both wanted to pay me to come to their businesses, look at their store and tell them how they should advertise = spending more money on TACTICs. I turned them both down; it would have been a disservice for me to take their money and give them a dime store assessment… It wouldn’t solve their bigger problem – which was that they both had inadequate information to make informed and logical marketing decisions.
How can you expect someone to walk in off the street, spend an hour with you, and give you information that will transform your business? Really, does that make sense? Sure I’m a marketer, sure I do this for a living and sure, I know how to advertise better than the average small business owner – given the appropriate information, data, and research!!! But spending an hour with them was not going to solve their problem.
Why is it so hard to understand the importance of market research?
Do you think Pepsi or Toyota got so big by blindly investing in the newest shiny marketing idea of the week? Of course not they invest millions in market research. They KNOW their customers. They KNOW their market. They KNOW how and when and why people buy. Sure, companies as big as Pepsi and Toyota have reached a certain level of success and market penetration and can afford to do some advertising just for advertising sake – but we as small businesses don’t have that luxury. We need to FOCUS; we need to spend our limited marketing dollars wisely. We need to get the best possible return on our marketing investment and can’t afford to waste money on things that don’t work.
I want to hear from you!!
Have you done the research? Have you surveyed your customers, studied your competitors and created a truly unique value statement for your business? If not, what what’s stopping you?
By the way – if you like this post, I would REALLY appreciate your ReTweet! Thank you!!!!
Leave your comments here.
Marketing is NOT Letters, Emails and Postcards!
September 19, 2010
If I were to ask 100 people to define “Marketing” I’d probably get 100 different answers. The problem is “Marketing” has become a nice little euphemism for dirty words like “advertising”, “sales”, and “di
rect mail”.
I’ve also noticed that all a sudden everyone is a Marketer: I met a guy the other day who makes signs – he introduced himself as a “Marketer”. Then I met a woman who sells online ads, she also identified as a “Marketer”. Everywhere I go I run into people who at first- glance do what I do, but when I dig a little deeper I learn they’re really selling some marketing tool; not actually engaging in the bigger picture – or the process and planning of Marketing.
I’ve been able to forgive sellers of marketing tools for calling themselves Marketers – I mean, everyone is doing it. But then I read an article by the CEO of a very well-known company that is a provider of Marketing tools (they call themselves “Marketers” too). In his article he addressed the question, “Isn’t Marketing and Advertising the same thing?” His response was, “Well, not really. Let me explain the differences. Advertising includes: commercials, billboards, radio, and newspapers. Marketing includes: emails, letters, postcards, and fax.” WHAT??? (Ok, in all fairness, he wrote Marketing “includes” not marketing “is”, but still, he used this example to answer the question, “how are Marketing and Advertising different?”, which leads me to believe that’s the basis on which he differentiates them.)
OK – clearly there is a lot of confusion out there. Marketing and Advertising are NOT the same. Advertising is NOT Marketing. Post cards are NOT Marketing. Signs are NOT Marketing. Emails are NOT Marketing. These are tools used in the process of Marketing. They are NOT, in of themselves “Marketing”.
So then, what is Marketing?
Wikipedia - Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development.[1] It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.[1]
American Marketing Association (AMA) – Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Notice that neither of these definitions includes the words “email”, “advertising”, or “post cards”? That’s because those things are merely the tools used to create customer interest, engage them and get them to want to buy from us. Take a look at the AMA definition, they state that Marketing is more than the activity of marketing (i.e.: emailing) – it is the set of institutions and the processes for generating interest.
Education is Your Key to Success
I want you to be aware. We all know we need Marketing, but be smart; learn what that really means and don’t just trust any salesperson who calls themselves a marketer and walks into your shop selling the marketing idea of the week. Marketing is a process – it’s not a one-time deal. Buying an ad or a sign or an email campaign without an overall strategy or plan is simply a waste of time and money. Educate yourself – take the time to learn and invest in your business wisely.
Bottom line: Marketing is strategy. It’s an all-encompassing, planning, scheduling, studying, figuring-stuff-out, researching, testing, and practicing strategy. And I don’t mean a strategy for getting a 20% response rate on an email campaign, 100 coupons from a print ad, or 20 referrals from your referral group. Marketing is bigger than that – much bigger. And when done right it will give you bigger results than you’ve ever imagined!
For more information about Marketing and how to make it most effective visit: http://FortuneMarketingCompany.com
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+Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company
- Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses get the customers they need to sell more, increase profits and achieve all of their business and personal goals. We do this by implementing and managing marketing systems based on data and strategy - there is no guess work. For more information visit us at: FortuneMarketingCompany.com. We'd be glad to help!
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