As I deal with small businesses in northeast Oklahoma, I find myself constantly overcoming misconceptions about marketing. Marketing is everything a business does to attract, retain and satisfy customers. This includes every point of contact a business has with potential or current customers - from the storefront, to the delivery guy, to the receptionist, to the product, to the price. In other words, marketing is so much more than just advertising. Advertising is a tiny piece of the puzzle and is actually more of a tactic. It's important to first look at the strategy behind the tactic. An advertising campaign can be very well put together, but a strong tactic built on a weak strategy will fail every time. So much more can be done to advertise or market than an expensive media blitz. In fact, certain forms of advertising should be illegal, but I will save that rant for my next blog post.
As shown above, advertising falls within media exposure and jumps straight to the tactic approach, which is backwards. It compares to deciding how to send a gift to someone before deciding who or what to send. Despite this fact, the majority of small business owners think an advertising campaign will solve all cash flow problems. We just need to create more awareness, right? My job is to explain how false this misconception really is. Sure, awareness of your business or product could be why your business isn’t doing as well as it should. However, what about your current and past customers? I stress the importance of customers for life for this very reason.
It’s like having a bulls eye target in front of you. Are you going to aim for the outer ring? No, you want to hit the bulls eye. Did you know at least 60% of your marketing budget should be spent on current customers? That’s the bulls eye. The next ring outside of that is customers just like your current customers (clone your perfect customer). After that is the general public, but not just anybody - only those within your identified target market (again, another blog post). Spoiler alert: your product or service is not ideal for everyone!
By developing a marketing strategy, your business is far more apt to succeed than by just picking and choosing advertising as funds allow. Develop a strategy today to ensure a future tomorrow.
