Hurricane Marketing

Hurricanes are tough. They're hard to manage. They come in quick and are soon gone. If you manage your marketing like a hurricane you're not being very efficient.

Marketing should be like a slow, gentle rain. It lasts for a long time and is easily absorbed.

Many small businesses have well intentions about their marketing. They decide on a promotion, develop a plan, and budget the dollars to make it work. Unfortunately, money is squandered because activities are done too quickly. Big ads are placed too close together rather than spaced out in industry publications; direct mail pieces contain too many sales messages rather than contain one single benefit each; and telemarketers call with a scatter-shot marketing message that talks about too many features.

Good marketers understand that you shouldn't blow your $5,000 ad budget on two big ads but spread out those hard-earned dollars to create a series of six smaller ads that will last for half a year. They also realize a four-color brochure many not be effective as a series of simple, two-color postcards sent out over the course of 12 months.

So plan accordingly and realize that being big and bold with your marketing is many times not as effective as being slow and steady.