Don't Be the Itsy-Bitsy Spider

So, I’m wearing my marketing hat again. I know what you’re thinking; what does the itsy-bitsy spider have to do with marketing? Glad you asked. I was thinking about this children’s song yesterday when I found a frozen spider on my deck. No kidding, he was frozen solid inside of his web. This spider didn’t make it back up the water spout. I’m sure you all know the song about a very small spider that climbs up the water spout, until the rain comes. The rain washed the spider away, but when the sun came back out, so did the spider. Great, the spider was persistent, but only persistent when it was comfortable for him. He was only persistent when the conditions were perfect.Let’s pretend the rain is our current economic times and the water spout is your company’s marketing. Don’t wait until the rain (current economic times) ends to start back up that water spout (marketing your company)! Studies have shown that once you cut your marketing budget, it takes an enormous effort to get your marketing back up to snuff and your branding back on track. Branding yourself is like tending to a garden. If you consistently take care of it, it will provide you with sustenance. This sustenance will save you money, since you won’t need to go to they grocery store to buy it. But, if you stop watering your garden (especially during a drought), it won’t produce. Now you are stuck spending more money in the long run and getting produce from the grocery store that may not be as good as if you had continued taking care of the garden, even during the dry spell.Don’t be the itsy-bitsy spider. Don’t wait until the weather is better to climb back up that water spout. Be consistent with your marketing, even during these economic times so you don’t lose all the hard work you have already put into branding your company.

Time Changes Everything - Even Marketing

I was just thinking about how much time changes things. We all know the effects time has on us in everyday life. Be it your memory, that extra little ache you may feel in the morning that you didn’t feel a few years ago, or that (gasp!) gray hair that has seemed to pop up overnight.
Time doesn’t just effect how we feel or look. It also has effects on how we think and get things accomplished. Take the phone book, for example. Ten years ago, if I needed anything from a plumber to a doctor to someone to bring me a hot meal, I’d go right to the phone book. Today, I looked under my phone table and found two phone books from the last two years that are still in their plastic wrap and have never even been opened. At first I started thinking about what a waste of paper. Think about all the poor trees that were cut down so that my phone books could collect dust (which made me realize that ten years ago, I never would have thought that much about the environment, either). Then I realized that, like me, phone books are suffering the effects of time. I wonder how long it will be until they no longer exist in paper format? Most people today just look things up on their computer or cell phone. I know I do. I hope that everyone who has an ad in the phone book has also invested advertising in other mediums. If you haven’t, I can just about guarantee you are not getting the most from your advertising dollars. I’m not saying don’t advertise in the phone book, I’m saying make sure you advertise in several different places in order to get the most bang for your buck. By just sticking to print, you are missing all of those who do research online and vice-versa. Another advertising medium that has suffered the effects of time is newspaper advertising. In today’s online and environmentally friendly world, most forms of print advertising are on the decline. Again, if you only do print advertising, you are missing a large number of potential clients. Review your marketing, make sure you are keeping up with the times and spread your marketing out among several different mediums such as the web, television and radio. Just think, 10 or so years ago many small businesses and professionals couldn’t have imagined the importance of having a web site or blog and now they couldn’t imagine going without it. Stay on top of the trends, only time will tell what the best advertising medium will be for you 10 years from now.