First Things First

A common mistake I keep seeing business people do is try and put together a marketing plan – backwards.

image from this uk website: https://www.poundstopocket.co.uk/pound-place/dont-fall-for-these-marketing-gimmicks/

I get asked about what specials to advertise, or what discounts to offer and the problem is, those are gimmicks.

Gimmicks are not good.  Gimmicks are the result of not figuring out why someone should buy from you.

When I put together a Marketing Strategy Model, the actual advertising portion is the last item on the list.

Here’s a quote from another article that is true:

This marketing strategy requires discovering who you want to invite to do business with you, what those people are looking for, who else they could buy from, why your business compared to those others and then what is the best advertising vehicles to use to invite those folks to you.

Gimmicks are often used as a substitute for a solid marketing plan.

Want to offer the lowest price?  Sorry but Walmart owns that marketing position in the retail world.

How about food delivery that is super fast at lunch time?  Jimmy Johns already beat you.

Just about anything that you can think of that falls into that “special” category of offers has been tried.

Besides, we now have the power of the internet in our pocket to compare the offers that you think are going to be your marketing and advertising campaign.  I did it a couple weeks ago when a salesperson was trying to sell me something based on price alone. (He lost.)

Take the time to do first things first and if you want help, let’s talk.