Our society as a whole continues to use styrofoam even though we know it has a landfill lifespan of longer than most companies stay in business.
Styrofoam is inexpensive, it does its job, it lasts a long time, and it is tossable when no longer needed.
So what does Styrofoam have to do with your marketing plans?
Like styrofoam, your marketing can be inexpensive. Focus on placing free reciprocal links. Swap advertising space in your newsletter with another newsletter publisher. If you don’t already publish a newsletter, post classified advertising in highly trafficked advertising locations like the Yahoo! classifieds.
Do newsworthy things for free advertising via news media coverage. Write and publish articles where you are given a byline. Edit a column at a site like Her planet. Offer free trials of your product or service in exchange for an advertising mention.
Your marketing doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. A sixty second commercial during the Super Bowl would have done wonders for all of us, but very few companies have a budget that can accommodate it.
Like styrofoam, your marketing should get the job done efficiently. Experiment by putting tracking codes in your different ads and banners.
Track not only what advertising locations bring you the most traffic, but also which banner designs or ad copy generate the most interest.
When you place a classified advertisement track the responses generated.
When you design a new promotion, test it on a target audience or even friends and family. My mother to this day laughs at me no matter what I pitch, but I know if she shows the tiniest bit of interest, I’ve got a good campaign.
Your marketing doesn’t have to generate minimal results. Take the time to make it as effective as possible. And if you try something which doesn’t work, drop it from your marketing arsenal repertoire.
Like styrofoam, your marketing should be long lasting. That sixty second Super Bowl advertisement might have brought you a million hits during half-time. But what do you have the next day, week, or year?
Focus the lion’s share of your energies and resources on placement of ads, banners, and articles that will remain for a longer period of time. Why spend two weeks writing an article that runs one time in a single ezine or newsletter and then is never seen again?
Remember that reciprocal links stay up forever (or until you choose to remove them) while banner impressions are a quick blip across a surfer’s computer screen.
If you only have time and resources to place three classified ads every week, be sure to put them somewhere that stays up for three months instead of three days.
Your marketing doesn’t have to be a flash in the pan. Shoot up a flair, but make sure that it bursts like Fourth of July fire crackers instead of flickering like a firefly. We detest styrofoam living for years in our landfills. But we should love advertising floating for years in cyberspace.
Like styrofoam, your marketing should be disposable. When a campaign isn’t working, get rid of it. I still remember fondly the scene in Mr. Mom when the mommy/advertising designer explains to Schooner Tuna that giving away a Hawaiian vacation during the worst hurricane on record was less than effective marketing. “Not your fault,” she says, but not very effective either.
So you toss that idea out. The nicest thing about inexpensive marketing is that you can look at it as disposable. If the sixty second Super Bowl commercial was a flop your money pretty much went down the proverbial drain.
But if your free banner exchange isn’t working, take the html code out of your page. Don’t be a slave to something. Grow a thick enough skin to not take it personally when the advertising copy you sweat blood writing doesn’t pull responses. Just change it.
Your marketing doesn’t have to be written in stone. Some things, like Styrofoam, will end up in a landfill.
Copyright 1999-Shannan Hearne
You may use this article in your newsletter or website so long as the credits are left intact.
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Shannan Hearne is the owner of SuccessPromotions.com and the co-founder of ShoppingInTheSouth.com
shannan@successpromotions.com
