To Advertise or Not To Advertise: Marketing is the Answer

Have you ever heard the saying, "I know that I waste half of my advertising budget. The problem is I don't know which half!" It is this very philosophy that is prompting me to strongly inform you... advertising doesn't work!

Let me show you why:

• There is no way to track effectiveness (or ineffectiveness)

• It's impersonal

• The target audience is too large

• It's costly to redo or improve

• There is no call to action

What surprises me is the number of small business owners that save their marketing dollars just to waste them on ineffective advertising. Then, they complain because nothing is working and they don't have any customers.

I know what you're thinking, "Isn't advertising and marketing the same thing?" Well, not really. Let me explain the differences. Advertising includes: commercials, billboards, radio, and newspapers. Marketing includes: emails, letters, postcards, and fax.

So how is follow-up marketing better than advertising?

• You can track response rates

• You can quickly change campaigns that aren't working

• You can specifically target your audience

• It leads prospects to an immediate sell

If you really want to attract more customers, you will learn to market and leave the advertising to those gazillion dollar companies.