Your Small Business: Why Your Marketing Does Work.

Whether you sell Mary Kay cosmetics, lawn services or professional services you've got to market yourself, but it can be difficult to choose a channel that reaches your customers. And so often you'll get bombarded with "terrific opportunities" that just end up eating away at your profit in the end. How do you decide what works? You've got to keep your head on straight and listen to logic.

Recently I found a local blogger who tells it like it is. Chuck Blakeman owns TeamNimbusWest, and provides outcome-based peer advisory, coaching, and consulting for Business Owners, CEOs, and their growing businesses. I've been reading Chuck's blog lately and his columns cut through the textbook marketing to tell it like it is.

Chuck has been running a series on his blog called Why Our Marketing Doesn't Work. It's a 7 part series that debunks some common marketing methods and gets to the point that in the end it's the sales that really count.

I liked reason #6 in which Chuck addresses marketing channels. It's like the other day I was walking through our family room when the teens were watching some comedy in which the character was complaining that his business wasn't booming. Honestly I can't remember what the show or character were, but that's not important. Anyway, the character held up the phone book and said something like, "But I bought the big ad. Didn't they see that?" You can probably guess that the big ad wasn't bringing in the sales. Chuck talks about that very stuff--using the right channel to draw customers.

Take a look at the guy that aerates our lawn every fall and spring. I don't even know if we need to do that twice a year. But like clockwork he is there knocking on my door and all of my neighbors on the weekend. He doesn't waste time sticking fliers on our doors. He doesn't put up signs on customer lawns. He doesn't drive a truck with advertising on it. Heck, he doesn't even have a company name. We just write checks to him. But he does practically every lawn in our neighborhood and that is hundreds of houses. So hmm...knocking on a door vs. phone book advertising.

Find out what channel reaches your customers. It doesn't always need to be fancy or expensive, it does need to be efficient and appropriate for your business.