| Business Owners: Are you tired ‘losing’ money on advertising? That’s not the way it’s supposed to work, is it? Nope…You’re advertising dollars are supposed to bring you profits, not losses...
Here are 6 likely reasons why your marketing dollars aren’t working for you:
1.You’re trying to ‘Brand’ your business
I’ve watched hundreds of businesses throw tens of thousands of dollars a year into online, print, radio and television advertisements without knowing if they’re even working. In fact, they were convinced by savvy advertising reps from the day that they open their doors that they need to brand their business. But I have news for you:
Branding must be a byproduct of selling massive quantities of a great product, service, and hopefully both…
An alarming number of business owners follow the lead of the big players in the advertising arena. It’s easy to take their lead, because there is relatively little accountability associated with the concept of “branding” your business. You could easily spend $10,000 a week on local radio ads, which your advertising rep would proudly defend as “great branding.” He would undoubtedly follow that statement up with “how do you know it hasn’t made an impact in your business.”
Here is the answer to that question:
If you don’t know if a marketing effort was successful, then there is no room for it in your marketing campaign
If you are the marketing director of a business, you are being held accountable for your marketing’s success or failures. If there isn’t a way to establish and present results to your boss, then you’re fired. If you are the boss, and there isn’t a way to know the results of a given marketing initiative, then your business will quickly bury itself.
Period.
Branding is based on the phenomena of recency, and is tied to a main objective of taking market share from your company’s competition. If an advertising rep is trying to sell you a ‘branding’ package, quickly escort him to the door.
Michael S. Mac Dougall is President of The Darwin Agency.A full service of Denver Marketing Agency and Advertising agency with offices in Florida and Colorado. He can be reached at mike@thedarwinagency.com, or through his company's website at http://www.TheDarwinAgency.com. |
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