Are you missing the no-brainer things in your business marketing strategy?

The grand pooh bah of television advertising is just one week away. What business wouldn’t like to see their name and image displayed during half time for the biggest viewing audience of the year? Now that would get the phone ringin’ huh?

When you float back down to earth from your Big Game Pipe Dream you might want to take a second look at what you’re doing to market your business. There are probably a number of small things you’ve overlooked that could cause your phone to jingle for a whole lot less than a 30 second halftime spot.

On January 1st, Inc Magazine launched a feature on their website entitled “31 Days to a Better Business.” Reading through the short daily tips business owners may find themselves mumbling “Well, that’s a no-brainer!” to themselves. Take a hard look at your business and you might find that these no-brainers are non-existent.

Among the smart tips for business owners are some smart marketing pointers too including: Going Online to Engage with your Customers, Writing Big Picture Blog Posts and, our personal favorite, Writing Thank You Notes.

When was the last time you used THAT form of direct mail?

Did your marketing mix put on a few extra pounds last year?

A new year always holds lots of promise and lots of promises of things you are finally going to do. According to a poll conducted by LiveScience.com, at the top of people’s lists for 2011 is the eternal battle of the bulge. In fact, losing weight beat out second and third place resolutions - Being Happy and Saving Money - by almost a two-to-one spread.

Although business resolutions are generally much more varied than those of the general public, weight loss should probably be at the top of the list among companies as well. What company couldn’t stand to shed a few extra pounds of underperforming marketing efforts?

One of the first questions we ask a new client is what their marketing mix looks like currently. Is the company using television advertising? Do they have a social media campaign? What magazines or print publications are a regular part of the advertising campaign? Are they using SEO or SEM?

After getting a good idea of what advertising vehicles are in their marketing mix, we then ask how each of them is performing. At this juncture we are oftentimes magically transported to a deep, dark forest where the only sound we hear is.. crickets.

Advertising in any form needs to get results for your company. Results translate into a ringing cash register or a busy service staff or an influx of sales leads. Your company can and should determine what sort of results you need and expect from your advertising and drill that down to each form of advertising you are using to determine if that print publication or that television campaign is really paying off.

If not, it’s time to trim some fat. Carrots anyone?

Try it, you might like it... or not.

Our agency recently received a referral from an existing client. The new client, a retail store, is next door to our existing client. The new client, Jane had seen the success our marketing efforts had achieved for her neighbor. She wanted what he was having.

After an initial meeting of fact-finding, we returned with a strategic marketing proposal in hand. In it, were the keys to her success: goals, challenges, target markets, competitive research, and a marketing strategy with specific initiatives.

Jane was impressed and, after we fielded several questions, she nodded her head. We were sure Jane was sold. Then, just as we were getting ready to present her with our contract, she delivered those deflating words every agency dreads.

"We'll give it a try," she said with a smile. Back into the briefcase went the contract.

With the possible exception of "fine," I doubt you can find a word packed with more underlying connotations than "try."

Let's face it, when a friend says, "I'll try to swing by your party later," he knows right then he's not coming. Or, when a co-worker says "I'll try to get to that paperwork today," you can bet your job is being shuffled to the bottom of her inbox without a second thought.

"Try" provides the universal excuse for failing to do something without incurring any personal responsibility for whatever is left undone. "I tried to make it to work on time, but all the inconsiderate drivers on I-95 wouldn't let me by." Who can blame me?

Giving advertising a "try" is sort of like giving marriage a "try." Promising to "try to love, honor and cherish 'til death do us part" isn't quite the same as committing to it. Either you're in it for the long haul, or you might as well get off at the next exit.

Jane's neighbor, a client of 12 years, is in it for the long haul. For 12 years we have been consistently marketing his business through local radio advertising and it has paid off. New customers regularly come into his store saying they heard him on the radio. People who have never shopped there know the name nonetheless. The success that Jane was seeing next door was the result of a long-term commitment to advertising. She wasn't going to achieve the same success by giving advertising a "try."

Jane did sign the contract and we're moving forward, albeit tentatively. She's trying hard to keep the word"try" from sneaking its way into our marketing strategies. The honeymoon stage is going well. With any luck, we won't be serving divorce papers before our first anniversary.