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Article added or updated:
03/30/2008 |
Effective Marketing - You Have To Spend Money To Make
Money
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Effective Marketing
By R. Scott Jones. Founder,
ShowOffCards.com
11/23/2005
I'd like you to raise your hand if you are familiar with a product that
goes by the name of Coca-Cola.
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As I suspected. You as well as nearly every person in the civilized
world can instantly recognize the Coca-Cola logo even if it doesn't say
"Coca-Cola". Coke is one of the most well recognized brands on the
planet.
How did this happen?
Is it because Coke has a product that is so unique and of such high
quality that no one can make a similar product? No. Walk the aisles of
your local grocer and you will find Pepsi and countless other equally
tasty soft drinks for sale.
Is Coke the lowest priced soft drink on the shelves? Absolutely not. In
many instances it is among the most expensive.
So how does Coke do it? One word. MARKETING.
Marketing is an investment. You must put in something to get several
times that back. As the saying goes "You've got to spend money to make
money". Major corporations like Coca Cola spend $500 million on
marketing to reach as broad of an audience as possible. They are in a
constant battle with Pepsi for the next 1% of the beverage market share
which translates to billions of dollars added to their bottom line.
Now, do you think that Coke would spend $500 million and only make $200
million or even $500 million in sales? Not more than once they wouldn't.
Coke invests in their business and demands a reasonable return for every
marketing dollar they spend. If Coke cut back on its marketing budget,
Pepsi would chisel away at Coke's profits.
Guess what. Your business is no different (except of course in scale).
You obviously don't have millions of dollars to throw at your marketing,
but the principle still applies on a smaller scale. You spend a certain
amount and expect it to bring in more sales. You focus on a specific
target audience and market to them with a consistent, frequent and
unforgettable message or image and build up awareness about who you are
and what you can do for them.
Whatever marketing tools you choose to implement, you must have a
strategy. Copying the marketing efforts of your competition cannot be
classified as a strategy and in today's brutal business climate it
simply isn't good enough. You must move beyond infrequent print ads,
spotty radio ads, ho-hum brochures and run of the mill business cards.
While the phrase "think outside of the box" is painfully overused, that
is what you must do if you are to stand a chance of ever being noticed
in the first place and more importantly remembered when the "BUY" lever
is about to be pulled.
In closing, don't let a few hundred dollars in marketing stand in the
way of thousands of dollars in sales.
Visit Show Off Business Cards and put a unique marketing tool in your
pocket that will answer the question "What makes you different?"
© 2005, Scott Jones. All rights in all media
reserved.
Scott Jones is the founder and CSO (Chief Show Officer) for
ShowOffCards.com
For more information about unique business cards you may email Scott at
sjones@showoffcards.com or visit his web site:
http://www.showoffcards.com
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