January 7, 2010
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Now that the new year is here and most businesses are formulating their business strategies for the year…are you putting your attention on marketing or advertising? I ask because there is a difference. According to Dictionary.com advertising is: the act or practice of calling public attention to one’s product, service, need, etc. And marketing is: the act of buying or selling in a market. So what’s the difference? There are a lot.
If you start an advertising campaign you may start by putting an ad in the newspaper or on the radio. You may even have a budget big enough to afford a commercial or billboard. While these are great strategies, they only work if you are targeting the right people. The average person may not be interested in the fact that you offer copywriting services to the technology sector, rather you would have more success from a marketing strategy rather than an advertising campaign. On the other hand, are you a dog groomer in a small area that has no other dog groomer, then these traditional methods would make more sense. Just make sure before you jump into a “big expense” advertising campaign that you look at your key demographic not the frills and want to be in the spotlight.
Let’s go back to the copywriting scenario for a moment. A marketing campaign would be ideal for this type of business. You could create a better more “targeted” campaign that is also easy to follow up on and track its progress. Go to your trade magazine or yellow pages and think about what type of companies could benefit from your services. Now from that targeted list send out your marketing materials such as postcards, emails, or faxes. Quickly track your responses and change what may not be working in your campaign before you continue. You can also taper the campaign; say sending out 15 postcards at a time instead of 100, saving you both time and money.
Getting a business up and running and keeping it running is a gigantic task and expensive to boot so make sure that you research the best ways to get your name out there for your business to make sure that you get the best bang for your buck. You don’t have to go it alone, have a virtual assistant help with the marketing plan and getting everything set up, you will see return on your investment!
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Marketing
