Wherever you look for wisdom on marketing today you’ll find a collection of old school and new school marketing advice.
Old school marketing includes things like;
- direct mail
- printed coupons
- newspaper advertising
- radio
- television
- billboards
- referral and word of mouth prospecting
New school marketing, of course, is all about the Internet and technology based marketing. It includes elements such as
- search engine optimization (i.e. SEO)
- social marketing websites
- chat rooms
- blogs
- pay-per-click advertising
- Adwords
- email marketing
- auto-responders, etc.
Today, in general, the most successful approach to marketing will be achieved using a mix of both old and new school marketing. Promoting a website with SEO alone is one way to go, but if you can get a few ezine, magazine or newspaper articles published about your business that mention your website, you’ll have better success.
- It’s the mix of marketing that tends to generate the greatest marketing power. If I make calls and send no mail, I’ll create only a limited amount of marketing success. However, if I combine the two approaches, I can improve my odds greatly.
- The whole subject of mixing media – particularly the mixing of old school and new school marketing - points toward the world of franchise marketing. In many franchises you’ll see a strong nationwide or empirical marketing platform, but a shortfall in what has come to be known as ”local store marketing.” In such a situation, marketing is delivered across a wide arrayof markets all at once using large scale marketing mechanisms (i.e. television, radio, billboards, web presence, television, etc.).
- The shortfall – or the opportunity, depending on how you look at it – comes at the local level. If a franchisee can mix marketing locally in conjunction with the big-picture marketing provided by the franchiser, the best marketing mix can be achieved. Find the local high school, volunteer organization, or “race” for the local charity. Reach out to churches, hospitals, civic organizations, etc. Hand out local store coupons, help with fundraising, sponsor soft ball leagues, sports teams, festivals, community days, etc. Collect email addresses from customers who want to hear about special promotions. Start a bring a friend campaign. You get the idea!
- Local store marketing provides the hands on marketing on the local level that, when combined with marketing support from the franchiser, can propel a local franchisee to greater heights of success.
So, achieve the best success with your marketing by mixing marketing media. Mix old school and new school marketing. Mix between larger scale marketing and local marketing. In doing so, you will move your business forward.
If you want to learn more about local store marketing as relates to franchise marketing, visit local store marketing guru, Scott Mader, at his website: www.intrimarketing.com
Originally posted 2009-06-09 04:37:16.
