If you are serious about getting the maximum return from your sales and marketing efforts, this message is for you:
In marketing, nothing is neutral. Every marketing activity is either working for you or it’s working against you!
For example, look at Internet marketing. When I look at 99.9% of business websites or blogs, I can see immediately that they are not generating many sales, leads or enquiries. The owners of those sites wrongly assume that this is “just how it is.” They know that they need a site to help market their business, and wrongly assume that the results will come magically somewhere down the road. It doesn’t work like that.
Keep doing what you are doing and you will keep getting what you are getting!
If your site is NOT a lead / sales generating machine for your business, then it’s not a neutral marketing function. It’s working against you, by blocking all that business you should and could be winning. The same is true of every activity the typical small business invests time, money, energy or all three in; without the correct results.
Successful, growing businesses typically invest in between 10 and 12 marketing activities, which are deliberately designed to produce results. Their marketing is working for them.
However, we know that those businesses that just get by, invest in a few marketing activities, which they HOPE will start working one day. They get the occasional result, but typically find that they waste hours of their time and sometimes quite a lot of money too, on activities that under perform.
These are not neutral marketing activities. These activities are actively wasting the time and money of these businesses. Worse still, it’s totally avoidable!
Be sure to review your marketing activities and pay particular attention to anything, which you consider to be neutral; neither helping or hurting your business. If it’s neutral, that means it genuinely is NOT helping you and needs to be stopped and then either fixed, or replaced.
Remember: Keep doing what you are doing and you will keep getting what you are getting!
Photo: Ansik
Jim Connolly can help you grow your business and achieve the breakthrough marketing results your hard work deserves. To find out more, simply click here!
I do like this quote:
In marketing, nothing is neutral. Every marketing activity is either working for you or it’s working against you!
It is indeed very true. When I started analyzing my web site deeply, I have realized that the message is quite messy and unclear. The level of visitors is very low and whenever I push it in twitter, users click but they do not stay. So we are reviewing everything right now.
Thanks for the post. It is very good.
Hi Jim. This can be applied to any aspect of business I think. Very often we can end up doing the same thing over and over and wonder why we are not progressing/making a profit. Do we keep discounting our customers so we have no margins? Do our managers have information at their fingertips or do they carry on wasting time having to chase it up? Do we continue to use the same suppliers when they might be “average” because it’s better to stick with the devil you know…. The list is endless and we are all guilty of it!
Great post read with thanks!
.-= Barney Austen´s last blog ..Keeping an eye on the big three =-.
[...] can, and should, read the rest of his thoughts in his article, “Marketing: Make everything count!” at [...]
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that business owners accept dead weight in marketing because the assume that this is “just how it is.”
I find this especially prevalent with websites, but it applies across the board. We accept low return rates on postcards because of industry standards, rather than trying to shake it up and get better responses.
A business owner should be relentless in improving marketing and finding tools that really generate results. Unfortunately, you can’t accomplish this by sitting back and doing nothing. You have to get your sleeves up and get involved with your marketing and with your customers.
.-= Bradford Shimp´s last blog ..Is your business website working for you, or against you? =-.
Thanks, Jim! You taught us “bankable results” and those words have echoed in my head since I “heard” you say them here sometime ago.
I’ve made strides this year, more than ever before. Now though I am going to learn for a bit, when I return, I will be putting even more thoughts into everything I do.
Communication with my client base will become primary and finding more ways to say thank you to past clients both for using my services and referring others.
You keep teaching, my friend, and I will keep learning!
.-= Julie Walraven | Resume Services´s last blog ..I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane =-.
Hey Jim. You make a good point. My take-away from this is a reminder of why I am in business in the first place. Knowing your “WHY” is important before you focus your marketing towards that end. Thanks for your your insight.
.-= Tim Zager´s last blog ..Does Your Business Make Noise Or Make Beautiful Music? =-.
You make an excellent point about how unsuccessful marketing strategies waste time and money, therefore work against the business. However, you say that this is “totally avoidable” without giving any suggestions on how to change marketing strategies for the better. It is easy to determine tools that do not work, but I have found it difficult to determine what tools are best. Especially when trying to market small businesses. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
@Kayleigh
I’m assuming you’re not joking, but you do know that this entire site is packed with alternatives to spam, right?
Jims probably given us hundreds of examples of more effective ways to market than spamming people. All that stuff’s here, just use the search box.
Does that help?