"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks."Tennessee Williams
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Marketing is How You Show Others How You Can Help Them
If You're Too Pure to Take the Final Step, Why Even Begin the Journey? "Marketing" is How You Show Others How You Can Help Them, Including Selling Yourself for Jobs and Promotions by Richard Stooker Many people, especially including techies, look upon ...
Pay Per Click Adverting And Article Marketing Compared
At first glance, Pay Per Click advertising seems to be the fastest way to send targeted website traffic to your websites online. You choose some keywords and add your website's url and you are done. However, with most things online the competitive search ...
Use Hands-on Marketing to Sell Like Crazy
I have a neighbor who, last year, started her own house-cleaningservice. Paula had been living on a shoe-string for years, andnow that her children had all reached school age, she decided sheneeded to enter the workforce. She was looking for somethingthat ...
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Let's face it, if you're in business, you're in marketing. What was true 50 years ago remains true today: nothing happens until something gets sold. And selling begins with effective marketing, but most marketing plans fail for two simple reasons:
1. They fail to capture the customers' attention. As strange as it may seem, the big task is not simply getting your message out to customers. In fact, that doesn't count for much. You can see the evidence for it everyday and everywhere.
Look at your mail, read newspaper or email ads. Most of what passes for getting the message out totally misses the mark. We're flooded with messages - and most of them go right by us. Why? Because they focus too much attention on the advertiser - not the customer.
What purports to be a message is no message at all. It may tell your story but if it fails to capture the customers' attention, it's a waste of money.
2. Perhaps the most pervasive marketing problem of all is a lack of consistency. Everyone starts out with a bang. It's going to be a great ad campaign or product promotion. Time, effort and money go into the projects. And where are they six months or a year later? More often than not, they're either all but forgotten or already a memory. The success of marketing is not so much in award-winning ads and brochures as it is in keeping the program going.
Business owners have an enormous challenge when it comes to marketing. They almost never have the time to put together and implement a comprehensive marketing program - and, most importantly, to sustain the program consistently over a long period of time. Here are some tips to help you create a lasting marketing effort: 1. A little planning can go a long way. Your calendar is a potent marketing tool. Start with your deadline and work backwards writing down each step required to complete the marketing endeavor.
2. Get others involved. Very often marketing initiatives require coordinating with printers, designers and even your staff. Getting everyone on board ahead of time will save you a tremendous amount of aggravation.
3. Avoid the temptation to waiver from the plan. Results from your effort may take months to manifest so don't give up too soon. Remember, consistency is an important factor contributing to a successful marketing effort.
About the author:
Avery Manko is the owner of The Manko Company, a marketing firm in West Chester, PA. His firm develops and implements marketing programs for small and medium sized businesses. Contact him at 610-725-9844 or avery@mankocompany.com. For more about The Manko Company, go to www.mankocompany.com.
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