One of the biggest challenges of being a small business owner is that
you must become an expert on many facets of business even if you lack
education and practical experience. Just because you went to school and
got an accounting degree doesn’t mean you know much, if anything, about
advertising. Yet, in order to succeed, you must gain at least some
level of competency in all these different areas; at least enough to
know if the people you’ve hired are doing a good job.
One area that I want to address in this post has to do with marketing
v. advertising. The reason is that the marketing world has undergone a
sort of rapid evolution in the past couple years with the insane
popularity of Web 2.0/Social Networking. Web-based marketing, including
affiliate marketing, is often good-old fashioned advertising (or worse,
spam) dressed in sheep’s clothing. It is important to recognize the
differences between marketing and advertising to make sure you’re
getting the most from your marketing budget; and since your marketing
efforts are you company’s “first impression” to the public, you also
want to be sure you’re representing yourself in the best possible light.
The best way to describe it is using the analogy of a toolbox.
Marketing is a toolbox full of stuff that you can use to represent your
company; and advertising is simply one tool. What that means is that
you must have an overall plan of action in place before you make a
decision about any kind of advertising. An ad campaign that does not
fit into your overall marketing strategy can actually do more harm than
good.
Many advertising agents will try to sell you ad space/time using
statistics, and get you to jump on a bandwagon with other companies
similar to yours who are doing the same thing. But you have to look at
the big picture. Your success depends entirely on your ability to stand
out from the pack. If you’re using the same “tried and true” methods
to advertise and market your business, it doesn’t matter how good you
are it’s not going to get you any attention.
The great thing about marketing is that it is actually a creative
endeavor. You can devise new ways of doing it which will become part of
your company’s identity. Much of the corporate marketing that is done
is highly refined, created to appeal to the broadest range of people.
But recent success stories show that it is the unique, niche markets
that have quirky personalities that are thriving.
The bottom line is this: You’re not going to succeed at business
without a solid marketing plan. And that doesn’t mean buying premium ad
space or giving away stuff with your logo on it. It means looking at
your overall market, comparing the strategies of other companies; being
innovative with your writing, promotion, and advertising; and having a
way to track the effectiveness of your campaigns. It means basing your
advertising decisions on more than just cost.
In the world of online marketing, you can get lost in the shuffle.
Each one of us is bombarded with emails, messages from our “friends”,
and banner ads that it has become easy to tune these things out.
Remember: the key to effective marketing is always going to be making a
personal connection with your prospective customer. So try to look at
all your marketing and advertising with a fresh eye and imagine yourself
seeing it for the first time. What does it say about your company and
your product? Is it compelling enough to make you want to find out
more? Is it associated with other, controversial or unattractive
concepts? Be prepared to hear honest feedback and to use it as you
constantly refine and redefine your marketing strategy.
http://bizcem.com/insights/adopting-internet-marketing-mix-for-greater-business-profits/
http://marketing.about.com/cs/advertising/a/marketvsad.htm
http://www.coffeebusinesssolutions.com/?p=536
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