Marketing vs. Advertising
Marketing in common usage is a low return activity–it is usually information-based products that increase the value of another activity. The first marketing activity would be deciding what to sell and where to sell it.
Advertising in common usage is a high return activity because it is the act of you ’speaking’ to the real world in a way that generates new revenue for your business.
Marketing. Market Research is the most common form of marketing “product” and this means paid research to identify what you sell, where you sell and to whom. As a function in your business, this is management. Nothing more than decisions based on a set of facts–a set of answers to questions. Millions of small businesses are successful without ever asking those questions. Lots and lots of small business get by with nothing more than deciding what to sell and where to sell it. Probably 80% of small businesses rely on putting a sign on their building and not doing anything else–which might explain the high failure rate! How do businesses succeed with ZERO marketing work? They use the simplest advertising techniques and they don’t worry about expert advice. The “sign over the door” marketing relies heavily on the visibility of the location. If your location doesn’t have great visibility with your clients… you might need to do a little more.
Advertising. Advertising is the act of speaking to your market. Ten years from now we won’t think anything of it that people create their own advertising. How does NeighborWave know? We have been teaching people to create their own advertising for about 4 years now. And along the way… those small business owners and managers learned exactly what they need to know about marketing in their own neighborhood! They didn’t spend thousands for a complex analysis of their market–they simply adapted to their own neighborhood and began having a real conversation with their customers. Many of those conversation start by someone hearing or seeing an advertising message. Like it or not, you are still reading our advertising message.
If your budget is in the thousands, think marketing.
If you don’t have thousands… think advertising.
We can advertise your business for less than $200 per year.