Here’s a secret that can change your business.

Once you know this secret you’ll understand why your current marketing efforts may not be producing the kind of results you want, and what you can do about it. If you’re like most business owners you’ve tried dozens of marketing tips or ideas, and have been disappointed in the results from most, if not all of them.

You may have heard suggestions like the following from your friends or business associates.  You should:

  • try classified ads
  • use cable TV
  • send out post cards
  • focus on networking
  • join the Chambers of Commerce
  • try radio or television
  • use bus signs
  • do direct mail
  • and on and on and on.

Have you ever heard suggestions like these? Of course you have.  These are the types of marketing suggestions that are passed from business owner to business owner every day.

There is no end to these types of suggestions…and there’s where we’ll find the secret. Those items listed above, and the thousands of others that you may read about or hear about from your associates aren’t marketing tips at all.

They are all “Marketing Vehicles.” A Marketing Vehicle is simply a method for “delivering” your marketing message to your target audience. If your marketing message is weak, untargeted and ineffective, you shouldn’t blame the messenger for the poor response. The problem is likely with your “marketing strategy.”  And your marketing strategy is the key to every other marketing element producing results for you. If you want to know why your classified ads, your direct mail letter, or your Yellow Page ads aren’t producing the results you want, don’t blame those vehicles.  The problem is with your strategy.

We know that the first time you’re exposed to the concept of a marketing strategy it may sound confusing. Since the only thing anyone ever talks about is marketing vehicles, it’s easy to be misled into thinking that’s all there is to marketing…but that’s not true.

Don’t let the word “strategy” scare you.  It isn’t anything complicated.  Strategy is nothing more than your general plan for achieving your results.

Here are the main points of the secret:

  • most people focus 100% of their time and energy on trying various marketing vehicles
  • more often than not, they get nothing in return for their efforts
  • the reason they get so little response is because their marketing strategy is weak, flawed or totally ineffective.
  • to succeed in generating the level of income you want, you must first learn and apply a proven-effective marketing strategy.

Only then will your marketing vehicles stand a chance of producing results for you. Ask yourself.  “Do I have a marketing strategy that I am certain will generate results for me?”

If your answer to that question is “No,” then you must understand that any marketing vehicle you try will have an extremely low chance of succeeding.

Here are a few examples to make the point clear…

Frank owns a frozen custard stand.  He believed that his customers were fully aware that, in addition to his popular cones, he sold his custard in bulk packs…pints, quarts and half gallons…even though this fact wasn’t promoted anywhere in his store. Frank said that his store has been in business for over 60 years, and that they’d always sold a just small quantity of pints, quarts and half-gallons to the customers who asked for them…and that there just wasn’t that much call for them. Frank’s strategy had been to just wait for his customers to ask if he had any bulk custard for sale…and only then would he sell any. That was an ineffective strategy, and it was costing Frank thousands of dollars in lost sales. Just because people aren’t buying one or more of your products or services doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t want them.  It could mean that they aren’t aware of them. Frank changed his strategy.  He created a large sign (or marketing vehicle) clearly stating that his   wonderful custard products were available in bulk, and listing the prices. Immediately Frank’s bulk-custard sales shot up.  His monthly bulk-sales tripled…all because he changed his strategy. As a business owner, you can keep changing your marketing vehicles forever, and never change your results.  But the minute you change your strategy to a truly effective one, your results will change instantly.

Do you think this is an extreme example?  It’s not.

Poor strategy equals poor results.  Great strategies often get stellar results.

So, if you want to start seeing results from your marketing, you’ll likely need to change your marketing strategies.