“If cash flow is the lifeblood of a business,
good marketing is the heart that keeps it pumping through the veins.”
Most businesses fail. The primary reason they fail is poor cash flow.
This is typically because they underestimated their projected expenses, or just as commonly, they overstated their projected income.
This is because they didn’t have enough customers, or they didn’t have the type of customers they needed.
And this is often the result of bad marketing and advertising.
Who needs to advertise? Simple - anybody who doesn’t get enough customers without it. If you generate sales through referrals or if you have a great location with ample foot traffic, congratulations! You may not need to advertise. So, leave the money on the bottom line and retire sooner.
But for others, effective advertising is required to provide our need for new prospects, as well as compelling our previous customers to return again and more often. Even businesses that have established major brands such as Toyota, Wal-Mart, Pepsi, McDonalds, need to continue to advertise like everybody else. They know that if they stop, competitors will soon take their place in the public mind causing customers and cash to cease to flow.
Our audience, those potential customers or clients we are trying to reach, present a moving target. All of their needs, opinions, and their perceptions are constantly undergoing change. What do teenage girls wear today that they we’re wearing say, five years ago? If you were going to buy a brand new car, would you expect to find cars that look like the one you drove eight years ago? Do you read the same books or watch exactly the same television shows you did three years ago? Probably not.
To stay on top of your game, you need to stay aware of changes in public or segment opinion and perception. And it is often not easy to keep your eye on them, or predict where their preferences are headed.
This is why marketing and advertising is not an exact science. There is no one way you should advertise or market you; if there was, we’d all look exactly alike. In this arena, unique approaches are often rewarded simply because they are noticed more than what everyone else is doing.
In spite of all this unpredictable chaos, there are fundamental steps you can use to improve your odds of success in your advertising. These steps involve research, planning, careful monitoring and adjustment.
These are the things we at Red Crow Marketing perform on a daily basis. If you need sales boosts and you're lost in the muddle of options, give us a call. We'll help you sort it out and get your business back on track.
The world has had all week to chew on the new logo since its release on Monday, and so far, most have spit it back out. No one is quite sure what the new logo is trying to accomplish -- you can't exactly praise its simplicity, since the tried-and-true old version was a sparkling example of clean lines and space. The square means... something, but what that is remains unclear. The stark use of Helvetica is drawing many comparisons to a competitor's brand, American Apparel.
