It’s an observation and it isn’t the case in every circumstance.
For more than two decades I managed sales departments in the television advertising industry. Most of the prospects we spoke to didn’t have any kind of advertising budgets or plans in place. They’d often select their buys based on their current circumstances: how they felt at the time, how their cash flow was, or if they needed to make that extra sale.
Now, as an Advertising Czar, I’ve spent the last ten years working with a lot of business owners – smart people – who have plans in place for everything from time tracking and human resources, to financial reporting and operations. They pay close attention to how their systems keep products or services moving through their processes and wouldn’t think of ignoring a monthly report or a problem with production. Yet their marketing and advertising is so often left to chance.
It’s probably because business owners don’t understand the power of advertising or marketing. Maybe it happens due to the fact that these parts of a growing business are at times hard to quantify. Whether it’s one of these reasons, or it’s the result of something else, there’s no doubt a smart organization needs to have some sort of a marketing system and advertising plan.
The first step? You start.
It’s as simple as that, really. Figure out who you want to speak to, what you want to say, and take the leap. The thing about systems and plans is that you can always improve them. The failure happens when, like many companies, you don’t have anything in place at all. Even if you aren’t an advertising expert – you have to start somewhere. A business can always make its processes better, but it can’t improve anything until that system is in place.
Market (and advertise) away, people – THEN get better at it.
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