Small businesses often waste money on ads that boost competitors instead of themselves, and deep discounts attract bargain hunters without building real advantage. The fix: clarify what makes you different and actually tell people about it.
What is the suggested marketing mix in a business? Should I be only doing canvassing? Should I only be doing, you know, when do you add television? I mean, all of these questions, and I think those are some of the questions people have because look, if I'm in a market and I'm doing, I know, $5 million a year and I want to spend $3,000 a month on television, is that a good idea? The answer is it depends. It depends on how well you can buy it. And sometimes if you're not the the dominant force on television, all you're really doing is building somebody else's brand. But then along with that, how do you differentiate your business beyond 50% off installation, buy one, get one free, all this nonsense and all, and it's almost like a competition of promotions. And while at the same time, none of us try to be the cheapest, and yet what do we do? We tend to attract customers that are discount sensitive. So I think it's really about revisiting who you are as a company, how do you want to go to market, and what do you really need to speak about as a way to differentiate appreciate yourself.
