Advertising Works The way The Grass Grow

We find that advertising works the way the grass grows. You can never see it, but every week you have to mow the lawn. ~ Andy Travis

Sadly, many marketers – whether on the agency or client side – don’t look at it that way. They would think hard and work hard to get a really good idea and execute it. Voila, it works. Everyone celebrates and leaves it as is because the good old adage says “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Technically, nothing wrong with keeping the same advertisement if the message is still relevant. However, there are other things to consider. Are the images, words, tone of voices relevant to the fashion of the day? I remembered seeing a pharmaceutical company’s TVC year after year during Christmas season since I was in high school. The product is reputable, the message is relevant, however, everything in the commercial looks dated ! After 20 years, even the dashing actor that did the commercial don’t look as suave and cool.

Plus, seldom will one single advertisement make a product and its owner a household name. It usually takes the full works including advertising, promotions, public relations, sales, customer relations management to sustain that much envious position right at the top of the pinnacle. So that vitamin product I was talking earlier survives, however, it doesn’t enjoy as strong a following it once enjoyed. Marketing take consistent and continuous efforts.

Sometimes, I’m really frustrated when the client chose to do ad hoc marketing because “this isn’t the season to do any marketing” or “I prefer to do guerrilla marketing because I don’t have a big budget”. Sure, I understand seasonal marketing. However, I do not subscribe to the notion that he can literally stop listening to , speaking to and caring for your customers and go hibernating in the cave. There is lots of post-sale activities and customer relationship management is certainly one area he can concentrate on. My understanding of Jay Conrad Levinson’s guerrilla marketing is about having a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and seek cooperation with other businesses to grow the business. As far as I know, it’s not simply about doing something now, stop, and then picking up later.

To me, marketing is the pulse of business and that means it is an ever continuous process. Similar to the Energizer Bunny, marketing should be kept going, going, going and going – even during hard times.

We are going though challenging time now. You might not have a big war chest to do marketing, however, that’s things you can do without spending money. Talk about your product and services; building relationship with people and other businesses is a great way to grow your business. When people sees your passion and enthusiasm about your stuff, it will rub onto them. Talk about your product and services in social medias, like Facebook,  in a responsibly manner. Your purpose is to first to serve – tell them how would your product/service be a great solution to people’s headache. Yes, be honest and tell them so if your product isn’t a fix. People appreciate honesty and will remember that. Hard selling at social media may backfire so be really careful about that.

Whatever it is, do something. When you choose have a lawn, be prepared to mow it.