I’m hearing this statement quite a bit as the economy starts to heat up. Here’s the thing, YOU’RE WRONG!

Never stop marketing your product to as many people as possible for the least amount possible

Apple, McDonald’s, Samsung, Tim Hortons, Subway, Ford, GM, Toyota and the list goes on and on and on. They all advertise consitently, whether it’s a slow month or an extremely busy month. They understand the value of awareness. Although a consumer may not be in the position to purchase their product right now, when the consumer is ready to purchase the aforementioned companies want their brand to come to mind.

Also, if you are THAT busy, maybe you should consider expanding your business, whether it be opening another store in a different neighbourhood or expanding to another city. Maybe you can advertise the fact you need more sales people to sell your product / service. Or find better quality service people to handle the increased workload. Whatever it is, never stop. You always want to be top-of-mind.

There are thousands of messages clogging the consumer’s brain every day. What makes your message stand out? If you’re not in the consumer’s face or mind, you don’t exist. You’re merely burning money on rent, staff and other operational expenses.

The best

The best and most profitable businesses understand this very simple recipe for success. Advertising your message 52-weeks a year to the most amount of people for the least amount of money works. And it works really well. Even if your message is shit, it will work (for a short period of time, but it’s very difficult to sell a shitty product / service over a long period of time).

You may be saying, “I don’t have enough money to advertise 52-weeks a year!” QUIET! You do, you just haven’t allocated your resources properly. If your annual sales budget is $100,000 your marketing budget should be $2,000 – $10,000 (2 – 10% of your sales budget). However, I’m sure your sales budget is much higher than that. Then again, your marketing budget is probably significantly lower than 2 – 10% of your sales budget.

Psychology

When it comes down to it, it’s all about psychology. There’s no way you’re going to have the marketing budgets like McDonald’s, Apple, etc… That’s fine you don’t NEED to. All you need is some money and a different mental framework.

Like the example above, you can stretch $2,000 – $10,000 very far on almost any marketing medium whether it be digital or a more traditional medium like radio or print. You won’t be able to reach the amount of people McDonald’s will, but you’ll still be able to reach someone…anyone. 100 people is better than 0.

For example, a restaurant launched and they only advertised to a 40-unit apartment complex next to their restaurant. They printed off some letters they made in Word and put them in the apartment complexes mailboxes. And they did this repeatedly. Needless to say, they owned that apartment complex. I can dive deeper into this story if you’d like. Shoot me an email at effUmarketing@gmail.com and I’ll elaborate. Again, someone is better than no one. Figure out who you can afford to own and own the shit out of them.

No excuses, be relentless

You need to market you product. Whether you’re busy or not. Whether your marketing budget is in the millions of dollars or hundreds. There’s always a way to reach people. You’ll have to spend some money, but you’ll reap the rewards in the long run. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

As always, if you need some guidance, reach out to me on Twitter or effUmarketing@gmail.com.