Things You Should Know About Marketing
5 invaluable tips

1. It doesn’t work overnight.

When you start marketing your company, you may get discouraged and feel like no one is listening. Marketing works over time and through repetition. Coke didn’t become a house-hold name in a day. The soft drink has been around since 1886, and the Coca-Cola Company spends $500-850 million on advertising annually (in the US alone) to maintain their edge! Your company is probably not as big as Coke, but the same principles apply on a smaller scale.

2. Know your target inside and out.

Have you ever heard a nursing home advertise on a modern rock station? Or seen a new children’s toy advertised during M.A.S.H. reruns? It happens all the time: Mismatched targets. There are hundreds of TV stations on cable now. Which ones does your target watch? What websites do they frequent? Which magazines do they read? Researching this data is vital to a successful strategy; otherwise you’ll end up advertising to people who may not want or need your product or service. Identify those consumers who are most likely to purchase your product or service and market to them.

3. Be Unique. Don’t sound like everyone else.

If you walked up to three random people on the street and asked them about your company, what would they say? Would they recognize the name of your company? Would they know what your company sold? Would your name stand out compared to a competitor’s name? Marketing is about making consumers remember your company when it’s time for them to buy. Think of the Aflac duck for insurance or Monster.com for job searching. These companies have little to do with their advertising trademarks, but we remember them because they don’t sound like everyone else.

4. Simplify

When you see an ad in the newspaper that lists 30 different products or services that a company offers, do you read them all? Or is your eye drawn to the simple ad on the other page that advertises one specific product or service? Our minds are naturally drawn to simple and clean designs. Boil your company’s essence down as much as possible.

When it first began, Ideal Image offered a variety of services including laser hair removal, Botox, vein treatment, and acne removal. But their message was fragmented. There were a lot of companies offering many services like them. Three years ago, they decided to do only laser hair removal. Now they are the fastest growing cosmetic enhancement company today – as one of the only companies that specializes solely in laser hair removal.

5. Be consistent and be everywhere.

Once you have a unique and simplified message, repeat it. Over and over. And over. Through time and repetition, consumers will associate your company with the identity you have built. The more mediums you can use to advertise the better.

Geico is a great example of this. “15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on your car insurance.” Geico’s name and identity have become synonymous because of their consistent repetitive message on all of their advertising. Everything your company uses to market, whether it’s business cards, newsletters, billboards, or TV advertising, should bear the same consistent message. This consistency will build an identity that your consumer remembers and trusts.