Page 129 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

Marketing
5.1 Constant marketing – Life is a passing parade
As I mentioned earlier in the book, this is not a marketing book and ‘how to get more sales’, other than encouraging sales people to get out there and see people, focus on birds of the feather flock together (see Part 2: Chapter 5.8) and keep your marketing constant. I do, however, know a little about marketing, having created a generic name for Solatube back in the 1990s.
One thing I learnt was that marketing has to be constant – ‘Life is a passing parade’. New customers come in and out of the market, and you have to be in their face when they are ready, not when you are! How dare we assume people are going to buy right now! The buying cycle could be many years. In one particular case, a guy fronted with an advert twelve years old. Yes, it was twelve years from the time he was exposed to the advertisement to deciding to buy our product. So, the sooner you are in people’s faces, the better.
Marketing is about being in people’s faces constantly, not just doing it once and expecting a result. It’s like mailbox drops that you had to do three times to get a good result. It takes perseverance. Marketing cannot be a one-hit wonder. Keep going continuously: van signage, social media, database email blasts with promos, Home Shows, newspapers (still does work in some situations). Don’t stop. And remember that you are not only creating leads, but also brand awareness and educating the punter on the
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