Do The Marketing Mafia Have A Gun To Your Head?
January 26th 2012 02:15
Link: www.theprofitfrog.com
It's not quite Prostitution, Drugs, Gambling, Car Rebirthing, or Wacking, but it's a close second.
What am I going on about?
The sense of control and domination exerted by the marketing "experts" who have a made a motza on selling you the "next big thing" in marketing.
My recent observations have lead me to believe that marketing - the strategies you implement to position your business in the market space - has become more complicated, technologically advanced and more overwhelming and specialised than at any time previously in history.
There are apps, sms and mobile web pages, webinars, blogs, RSS feeds, QR codes... some are much more common today than others. The hottest "fad" in marketing is the app - (application) - for mobile phones that allow all manner of interactivity for the user.
They vary from being mildly entertaining, to feature-rich, task-oriented programs that allow the user to work remotely, to complete complex reports and send them, and to perform various other functions.
Statistically, there are still around 40% of Small to Medium Business Owners (or Small Medium Enterprises - SMEs) that don't even have a web-presence - no website, no web-based piggy-back links, nothing.
A proportion of the 60% who have ventured online offer up a website that looks like a high school kid put it together. The site functions but lacks any of the essential "check-box" features needed to make the site worthwhile.
For the more "savvy" business owners who have a website, some have e-commerce capability (the ability to sell products or service from the website and receive payment online), some have blogs (meaningful and relevant diarised 'opinions' posted on their website or a blog site), and still others might include videos and downloadable documents for their visitors.
But beware the Marketing Mafia.
They would have you believe that you are a failure - to your customers and your business - by not having the latest technological advances - mobile technology, downloadable apps, Facebook pages with "Like" function, and all the social media under the sun - Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube. Oh, and if you don't have RSS feeds, then you're just not serious about your online presence.
There is pressure exerted by online marketers whose flaunt their expertise via every conceivable techno-marketing gadget, widget, and downloadable app, tweet, 'like' and article marketing, SEO-perfected organic listings, and webinars.
You have to be forgiven if you feel overwhelmed, or even somewhat anxious and threatened - as if you have a "gun" to your head to follow the trends, and pay the big dollars and often the big experts, just to be part of the action.
There is a sense of "Us vs Them" in the playground.
Once upon a time, the internet supposedly levelled the playing field making it easier for small to medium businesses to boost their market presence via the online arena; where customer reach was global, and budgets were infinitely smaller; where you once could call upon the tech-head nephew to put a website together and boost your marketing performance.
These are now irrelevant and out of date.
Small to Medium businesses are making great use of the internet, but with the massive budgets available to major businesses and corporations, who can offer downloadable apps, e-commerce sites, and be across all avenues of "multi-channel" marketing, it seems the levelled playing field has been built out with Mafia Marketers' palatial high-rises and there is now little room for the small player to find a patch of grass to sit.
The message here really is that you, the SME owner, needs to stop, take a breath, and step back to review the guts of what marketing is about.
You need to identify who your actual customers and prospects are, profile them so that you know them in detail - their age, job status, financial worth, family situation, spending habits - and analyse your products and services and your business, to figure out if any of the current trends in marketing are suitable for your business needs.
Seriously, the one thing that all businesses need to keep in mind is this:
KEEP IT SPECIFICALLY SIMPLE.
A bit of a twist on the KISS principle.
But the idea is, don't bust a valve trying to be all things to all people or to have all marketing irons in the fire.
You'll send your business broke, or you'll lose focus and not be devoting time and effort to the real asset in your business - your customers.
As the executive consultant and owner of The Profit Frog, I make it my mission to help you simplify your marketing, keep the foundations strong, and realise actual profitable growth by focusing on inexpensive, tested and proven methods of boosting revenue through more sales, more often.
Before you are held to ransom by the Marketing Mafia, contact the Profit Frog to discover how your bottom line could be flooded with extra cash flow with little extra expense on advertising or expensive techno-marketing.
Email the Profit Frog.
Need help? Contact 1300 - 98 - 36 - 41
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The Profit Frog
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Kindest
Terri Mitchell
The Profit Frog