One of the secrets behind the most successfully marketed small and medium sized businesses, is that they utilise more forms of marketing than their less successful counterparts! In my experience, ‘the average’ business will use just two or three different kinds of marketing – yet the most successful businesses will be benefiting from eight or more.
Compound marketing leverage
By developing a marketing strategy, which leverages many complimentary forms of marketing, you start to build a ‘compound marketing’ effect. This is where the results you get for your combined efforts, are far, far greater than they would be; if you had done each activity in isolation.
Also, by relying on a number of different forms of marketing, your business’ future is far more secure. I interviewed a businesswoman once, who relied on an advertisement in an industry magazine for almost all her new business. A competitor then started advertising in the same publication. Overnight, her sales and enquiries dropped by more than half and she eventually went broke!
If you currently rely on just a small number of marketing activities, no matter how effective they currently are, make sure you are not too reliant on any one of them and always look for new ways to get great results.
Over to you
What forms of marketing have been the most (or least) effective for YOU? Share your experiences with a comment below!