Economizing

Marketing is about profit, not expenses. When the
talk turns to marketing, most people wonder"How
much will it cost?". The guerrilla asks instead,
"How much will it increase my profit?".

Quitting your marketing campaign to save
money is a bad idea. It is a bad idea if
you are marketing WITH a plan --
marketing WITH knowledge of your
target audience, their needs and your
solution.

Thinking that stopping your marketing can save
money is a lot like thinking that stopping your
watch can save time.

Levinson outlines 14 ideas that he believes will
give you the best of both worlds: aggressive
marketing plus saving money. Here are a few:

Know your audience.
Obtain free research by creating your own customer
questionnaire. Study the answers to the questions to
gain clues about your customers' minds; study the
handwriting of the answers for clues about customer
personality types.

Test and measure.
Experiment and test your marketing. That way you'll
be able to run only proven successes, not shots in
the dark. Failure to experiment is a common and
expensive mistake. Remember that guerrillas are
willing to experiment before committing.

Spend enough, but not too much.
If you're about to do a direct mailing, try to do it
with a postcard if possible. You can save paper and
increase your response rate at the same time. Make
it a color postcard and you'll get the best results.
Color increases readership by 41 percent.

Market to clients
Spend your time and money marketing to your
existing customers rather than to prospects. It
costs five times as much to sell to a new
customer as to an existing one.

The most practical, obvious, and sensible method
of economizing is to make your marketing decisions
based upon a marketing plan and calendar.

(c) 2006 Steve Brewster
Executive & Business Coach
403.283.5706
www.brewsterconsulting.com
steve@brewsterconsulting.com