Marketing Rules

Digital or traditional, the basics of marketing haven't changed since Oog and Ogg crawled out of their cave and began dickering over a stone ax-head. Here are some of the rules for marketing success in any age.

WII-FM
That's everybody's favorite radio station – What's In It for Me. Benefits (that's what's in it for me) are the basis of all marketing. Benefits are why people buy. They're the difference in their life that buying from you will make.

Benefits are not features. Those are characteristics of your product, service or company.

Benefits are not applications. That's how people use whatever you sell them.

Benefits are the difference in their life that happens because they buy something from you. Tell people how they will benefit and they will buy from you. It's almost that simple.

The Law of Horn Tooting
No matter how much you wish it were so, people do not just automatically wake up one morning and decide to buy from you. They have to hear about you first. They have to know what you do and how buying from you will benefit them.

No matter how much you wish it were so, the only person you can count on to tell your story is you. Sure, your customers might say good things about you, but you can't count on that.

No if your horn is going to get tooted, it's best to figure that you will be doing the tooting. That's the Law of Horn Tooting: Toot thine own horn for thou canst not count on another to toot thy horn for thee.

The Magic Stone of Marketing
There may be magic in a young girl's heart, but there's very little magic in marketing. Despite how consultants and motivational speakers may make it seem, you're just going to have to work at it. There's no one, or even two, simple things that will suddenly, completely, and permanently make your marketing effective.

No, if there is a magic stone of marketing it is this: do the basics with unremitting diligence. And what are those basics, I hear you cry.

You must get your message out so that people recognize your name and associate it with what you do and with what makes you different.

You must identify prospects and convert a goodly number of them into buyers.