Today there are more ways to market your business or practice than ever before. More ways pop up every day. NASCAR finds another body part on the drivers to brand. Social media opens the flood gates. So where should you place your message? It depends!
 
What products and services are you selling or trying to provide? Where are your potential customer/clients/patrons/patients? When are they ready to hear from you? How are they open to engaging with you? You must answer these questions before you can determine where to invest your marketing dollars and efforts.
 
Some time ago I was working with a professional practice whose members were very excited about the prospect of Facebook. They started a Facebook task force. This task force had a weekly conference call lasting 1-2 hours. These professionals could bill out at hundreds of dollars per hour. This task force was therefore very expensive.
 
When I came along my first questions was, “What do you want to sell?” After some discussion the practice members identified their most profitable service line. So, I set upon my way to find out who were the current decision makers for that particular service. I conducted research, analysis, interviews and surveys to learn about those decision makers.
 
As it turned out, the majority of the decision makers were not on Facebook. Those who did have Facebook profiles only joined to be able to keep up with their grandchildren. I was, however, able to find some consistency in the alumni status of these prospective clients. I also identified a publication that the decision makers read. They were more impressed with the editorial as opposed to the advertisements.
 
The Facebook task force was disbanded. A more modest financial investment was made into sponsoring some alumni events and newsletters. A time investment was made into having articles published in the target publication. The resulting revenue-generating leads were abundant.
 
As you determine where best to spend your time and money you must keep abreast of changing usage. Facebook might as well be a paper Encyclopedia Britannica to pre-teens who are embracing Instagram instead. Pinterest is used predominantly by women today but men are gaining traction in the food categories. The marketing landscape changes regularly.
 
There are some “have to’s” today like having a web site. The rest of the “have to’s” are debatable and for another article on another day. Let me just impress upon you that your marketing efforts should be driven by your current and potential clients/customers/patrons/patients. Don’t be lured by the new, flashy and exciting just because they are new, flashy and exciting. Don’t jump on the bandwagon because of the hype. Drive your own marketing to drive your revenue.
 
Remember marketing’s sole purpose is to positively impact your revenue or profitability. You are the expert in your business or practice. Always be the expert in your current and potential revenue sources including their attributes and habits. And, get a marketing plan!
 
Vanessa Marttinen is currently the Founder and Senior Consultant of American Marketeur. American Marketeur is an independent full-service marketing firm, based in Wilmington, NC, focusing on building revenue-generating marketing plans.  Vanessa Marttinen offers her clients completely unbiased advice by never taking mark ups on media buys. American Marketeur accommodates any type or size of business or practice through an enormous network of innovators, designers, programmers, experts and visual producers. Visit www.AmericanMarketeur.com or contact Vanessa Marttinen at [email protected] or 910-338-6479 for a free, no-obligation consultation.