Page 38 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

GETTING STARTED

advertisement that had produced these amazing results.
This time they had a shocking day. Why?

On the previous Mother’s Day it was pouring with rain
and this attraction was undercover. The weather on the
latest Mother’s Day was sensational so everyone was out-
doors. Add to this a huge festival that coincidentally ran
on the same day and what was a successful promotion the
year before turned into a disaster the year after.

The point that I am trying to make is that there is
absolutely no doubt that traditional advertising mediums,
like television, radio and newspaper, work. If they didn’t
work for some promotion that you did in the past try to
identify why. That is the key to the problem. Remove what
didn’t work and try it again. Once you get it right don’t
change the formula until it stops working.

Another interesting point that I have observed is that
people’s expectations of the business they will generate from
advertising is often unrealistic. I meet people who think
that a $50 advertisement will bring in $50 000. If it did,
every business would be successful. The fact is that there
are no magic formulas to tell you how much business you
should expect when you place an advertisement. If you can
cover the cost of the advertisement you are in front—
everything else is a bonus.

Successful marketing is a matter of persistence to get
the formula right.

What is a successful business?

There are many ways to gauge the success of a business.
Unfortunately many of them are based purely on monetary
measures. I encounter a lot of business operators who are
extremely hard on themselves. Because their business may
be going through a tough time they blame themselves and

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