Marketing is difficult because it is unlike any other business discipline. Most of our business day is filled with left-brain tasks that may be complex but are for the most part logical and procedural in nature whereas marketing and branding are right-brain activities governed by that hated enemy of rational business thinking, psychology.
Most businesses advertise; a rather common practice designed to get the word out about your company, product, or service. A lot of companies despair at the thought of advertising as they see little immediate or obvious return on their investment. In some cases this dissatisfaction is based on misplaced expectations and a misunderstanding of what is actually being achieved, while in other cases frustration results from plain old fashion failure. This could be the reason why so many businesses have fallen in love with click-through schemes where you only pay for presumed actual results, however the definition here of results is rather liberal.
It is comforting to many to reduce the mysterious dark-art of marketing to promotional advertising where physical results can be tabulated, measured, analyzed, and scrutinized, so that adjustments can be made or more likely blame can be laid. Unfortunately falling in love with the number of ad impressions and click-through rates misses the point: how long are people staying on your website, how much of your message are they really absorbing, is your message designed to actually be retained in your audience’s memory, and is that message compelling enough to have that audience return when they are ready to act?
Advertising Is About Delivering Your Message
Advertising is about delivering your message and if the only message you deliver is that you reduced your price or added a new feature, then all you are really doing is conditioning your audience to wait for sales and buy from whomever is offering the most features at the lowest price.
On the other hand, if your advertising is intended to create a unique identity for your business that appeals to your audience on a higher level of customer satisfaction then it’s time to take a close look at exactly what message you should be delivering. And that message is the essence of the dreaded B-word, branding. So, whichever method you choose, whether on unique promotional materials like custom balloons and Personalized Basketballs, the result is pretty much the same; to promote your business and increase patronage and eventual sales.
