Marketing has fads just like clothing. Each industry has a most popular media. The fad now is to put all of your marketing dollars into the digital world. Some of the most intelligent company owners believe so strongly in the dominance of web advertising – after all, it is clearly working for many companies -- that they’ll even take their phone numbers off invoices and simply put a website address instead. I believe that you should absolutely go digital.  Advertise online. Update your website frequently.  Start a blog (we have one!). But be wary of following the crowd and buying completely into one advertising fad. Don’t make the customer log onto your website to get your phone number if the true objective is to get them to call you. Give them your phone number in as many places as possible. You never know when they will need you.

How do you determine if there’s value in a fad, or when that groundbreaking media might work for you? Listen to your customers. Spend a day answering the phone, and really listen to how your customers found you. Ask them a follow-up question or two. Develop a means to track all the information that they give you and your staff. Review the information in regular intervals. If you know what works for your company, you’ll have no need to follow the crowd. 

But what if you want to increase your customer base? Or just try out some new ideas? I’m here with the hard news that new ideas won’t necessarily get you new customers. A more sure-fire way of making sure your marketing dollars are effective is to find out what works and increase your efforts in that area. Then pair what works with something new – and track it, of course! And be aware that if you are using certain types of “awareness” media, the message may take a long time to take hold in your prospects’ mind. Pairing two media to achieve an objective often works amazingly well. Perhaps your goal is to increase traffic to your website. Radio works well with the internet by directing the listener to a web site for more information. This is especially effective when the item that you are promoting requires some explanation. It is also a good option for new services. Remember, marketing is about relevance and frequency. Two media messages doubles your frequency and broadens the audience. 

Listen to the fads. Keep your eyes and ears open. Maybe there’s a gold nugget there, waiting to be used.  But try the ideas if and only if it makes sense for your customers. And never stop doing what’s working. 

When you listen to what your customers tell you, you will see that the simplest, quickest, and most direct advertising messages are the most helpful. Remember these tips to make it easy for your customers.