Checkbook Marketing
Most small business owners realize they have to do some marketing to drive business. In the business-to-business world, this is especially true, since you generally don’t have a consumer looking for a product you are selling due to a manufacturer creating demand. If you sell business services, technology or business consumables, you have competitors – sometimes many of them – who all offer something similar to what you have.
I think the mistake that many owners make is that they believe they can effectively impact results when they write a check for a marketing program – be it direct mail, email or advertising campaign. “okay” they say, “we got our name out there”. Reality is, it is the time intensive (Principle/Owner/Executive -POE Time) that gets the best results. It is the networking you do at the rotary club. It is the influencers you meet with. It is the clients you take to lunch, just to see how things are going. These are the impact events that will drive business for you – business that you will likely have little price competition for.
Think about not just how much money; but also how much POE time you are spending on marketing the next time you sit down to do a quarterly review or annual plan.
Leave me a comment – tell me your experiences or if you disagree.
Date: May 1, 2008