Don't Reinvent the Marketing Wheel!

Marketing is a science. Yes there is some nuanced art in it, but it is a science with measurable results nonetheless. Are you using good common sense and researching what has worked for you in the past so you can duplicate those results in the future? What do I mean? Here are some examples: Do you advertise store promotions by email? Have you tracked which of these email promotions actually get opened and then clicked-through for details? Have you checked to see if those products actually sold during that promo period? Do you have an e-commerce site? Have you watched traffic spike in certain months and then gone back to try to determine the "why" so you can do that again? Why not? Did you have an unusual number of service requests after a particular mailing or advertisement? Did you even pay attention? Did you run a Google Ad Word campaign in just one way, or did you try rewording the heading a few times and resubmitting? Did you track results? Much of your marketing efforts are wasted wheel-reinvention. You have answers but you haven't asked the questions at all. Because of this you are throwing marketing money away. Sometimes results are based on things you can't re-create (like weather), but usually they are the result of something you can try again in the future. Keep detailed records of your sales campaigns, your email promotions, your discounts, your advertising. Note those that were successful and any special circumstances that may have impacted them, and set up a calendar reminder to run the same or similar promo again in the future. Be careful though. Too much repetition and your customers will stop responding. When it comes to small business marketing, you really cannot track too much. In the end it saves you time, though, because you are not reinventing your marketing wheel! You Might Also Like: Start Your Daily Marketing Habit10 Ways to Get Customers in Your Door by Steven Schlagel