Last time I talked about the ScLoHo Advertising Process with the First Step: Who are You?

I met last week with a gentleman who started his own company less than a year ago and is still in the process of figuring that out because he is trying to match what he wants to do with what people will pay him to do that is profitable and at the same time look towards the future with what he wants to be doing in 5 years.

It’s tough at first, but everyone who is starting a business goes through it and as the years pass, you will continue to change and tweak. dd

Today, I’m going to jump forward and dig deeper into the WHO are YOU?

As I help you formulate an advertising and marketing plan there are certain key considerations that will determine what is important and what you should and shouldn’t invest your money on.

First Question:  Are you open year round?  Most businesses are.  The heating and cooling company, the doctors and dentists, the retail stores, they are open 12 months a year. They have seasons, and slow times but they are still open for business.

If the answer to Are you open year round? is yes, then you need a 12 month plan.  Every single month you should be visible and inviting people to spend money with you.

Not every business is open year round.  Some businesses are strictly seasonal. The Halloween stores that pop up in September but will be gone in November are one example.  The guy with the Christmas tree lot set up near Jefferson and Illinois roads in Fort Wayne won’t be selling trees in January, but he’ll be back next year.  These are definitely not year round businesses but they are open each year for a period of time.

Seasonal businesses should not spend money advertising during their off season, after their season is over.

Which brings me to a 3rd category.

Event Oriented Businesses.

An example that I work with is the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.  They are one of the finest musical entertainment organizations I’ve ever seen and they are one of Fort Wayne’s treasures.  You can buy one of a combination of season ticket packages or you can buy tickets to individual concerts.  While it would make sense on one hand to advertise year round, every week, a better investment of their limited advertising funds is to promote individual concerts, which is what we do. Event Oriented Businesses need a different advertising strategy than Year Round Business.

If you are not having these kinds of conversations with the people who help you with your advertising and marketing then you may only be a “customer”, not an advertising partner in their eyes.

Sadly, I know some professional advertising salespeople in town who only know how to sell, but not dig deep and help figure this stuff out.

Recently I met with a friend who spent $2000 to promote an event and she wasted about $1500 of her budget on a TV campaign.  We asked people who attended her event how they heard about it and when I was with her, no one said they saw the TV ads.  She asked me if WOWO radio would have been the better advertising choice and my first response was no.  Based on the conversations we had with people who attended her event, she needed to invest more in online marketing solutions and, well, we’ll dig deeper soon so I can help her plan for next year.

Want help digging deep?  Ask me.