Basic Marketing Dope

Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics - that's true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them you really won't have to sweat the small stuff.

Hot Dope #1)

The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number (and not someone else's) when they need the services you offer.

Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they weren't given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audience's attention.

Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular "Hot Dope" cannot be stressed enough - and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.

You should also know that taking the time to really see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Don't just totally give up when a response is low - persistence is vital.

Hot dope # 2)

Measure your Return On Investment (ROI) in terms of actual MONEY not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the MONEY that it brings in has more value than the MONEY and time that is spent on the marketing.

Don't fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding to a large number of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the amount of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.

Hot dope #3)