MODERN MARKETING
than their printed counterparts, but
advertising is far cheaper and much
easier to measure.
Energizing your customers – getting
them charged up and talking about
your products – should be done
consistently. Determine what your
customers are looking for and
focus your attention there. Learn
which channels and mediums
provide maximum exposure for your
messages and deliver the most for
the dollars you are spending.
conversations. You can speak in
your everyday voice, which your
stakeholders will often find more
friendly and approachable.
Consider doing a video. There
are lots of ways to get prospects
excited about your business, but
very few are as attention grabbing
and emotionally evocative as a welldone video. If you’ve never taken
this angle for your business, this is
an excellent time to do one, get it up
on your website and get a clip up on
YouTube.
Develop direct-mail pieces
using variable digital printing
and customized mailing with
information directly targeted to
each individual. Digital printing
can save you money as you print
on demand. You can also print
and finish in half the time of offset
printing and eliminate printing large
quantities of pieces that just get
stored away.
What about broadcast? Negotiate
62 ModernBusiness
October 2016
with your stations to buy filler
inventory. Often radio stations will
have 10 to 15 seconds where they
have to push filler in order to start
a show on time. Those 10 to 15
seconds could easily be your ad at
a significant discount. The station
gets the extra dollars they need
during a recession and you get the
extra exposure. Television also
becomes competitive for business.
Prime spots and rates become
flexible and discounted. Some TV
commercial producers or agencies
will even offer pay per lead or pay
per sale commercials that include
professional production and regular
spots giving you the potential to
reach a wider national audience
with little or no risk and no huge
advertising budget required.
And, you should also include
print advertising. Consider
using a quarter-page ad in trade
publications rather than a half
page, or a half page instead of a
full page. Digital trade magazines
often have the same or better reach
Successful marketing and
communication efforts result from
careful strategic and comprehensive
planning. Look for ways to promote
your company, its products and
services in an integrated approach.
Are you using an integrated
approach? What marketing
activities are you doing? Which
ones have you measured and found
most worthwhile?
Jennifer W. Dinehart is an awardwinning communicator and brand
strategist. She is owner of Concentre
Communications, Inc. Drawing
on 25 years of broad experience
in international communications,
marketing and start-ups gives her a
unique strategic understanding of
the dynamics of the business and
entrepreneurial environment. www.
concentre.us