Photo (CC) by Alex Holyoake, on Flickr
To many business owners, marketing feels like a numbers game. Too little and no one knows you exist. Too much and your potential customer feels bombarded.
So business owners are forced to look for balance in their marketing.
Yet balance is not something that can be readily achieved. It begins with knowing your customer base. Questions on where they might see your message come into play. Also, every individual will have a different levels of tolerance for how often they want to see your business message. But even that item is not static as if I, the customer, am in the market for something, I am willing and even anxious to gather more information than if your message is just one more ad I see in the daily jumble.
Tolerance also depends on what you are sending as a message. Is it just about selling or do you include other types of messages in your marketing mix? Might it add some humor to my day or touch some emotion. Yet other people just want the facts.
Also, trying to attract new customers requires more messages than when you are retaining existing customers. And the messages may differ with focused, directed messages for existing customers and more broadly distributed messages when trying to attract new customers.
Thus balance becomes necessary. Having sheer numbers or certain ad types or placement in the right media will not guaranteed business success.
And remember that what works for marketing today may not be the answer tomorrow.
Don’t focus on just one goal or assume that one customer represents all of your market. Focus on your marketing goals. Identify your general customer and some of major sub-categories of customers. Do more than just a sales pitch in your effort.
Marketing brings success if you can find the balance.
- About the Author
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Glenn Muske is an independent expert on rural small business, working as GM Consulting – Your partner in achieving small business success. He provides consulting, and writes articles for county extension agents and newspapers across North Dakota. Previously, he was the Rural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development Specialist at the North Dakota State University Extension Service – Center for Community Vitality.
