Marketing with Integrity
One of the most difficult aspects of a long-term marketing campaign is knowing when to move on. When are you investing in an idea that has already fallen flat and when should you hold on for as long as possible? Knowing the difference between the two can be difficult, but it's important to recognize this distinction in order to have an effective marketing campaign.
Marketing with integrity means knowing where your best chances lie; it means having a strong understanding of what your target audience likes and dislikes, and consequently tailoring your ideas accordingly. It's not about short-term success; it's about what value you're bringing to customers day in and day out for years, even decades. It's knowing what works and when you can move on to new things.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to know when this moment is. There will be times when a marketing idea seems promising, but after exhaustive testing and preparation, something goes wrong. Perhaps a customer rejects your offer or you discover that there are hidden costs in your product or services that you could have avoided. No matter how hard you try, something always goes wrong, so it's important to keep on promoting your ideas even though they haven't yet been proven successful.
But what happens when you've been marketing something for years and it still hasn't taken off? You can keep promoting this product or service, but if there's no market for it, then you're wasting your time and money. After all, why spend so much money on it if no one's going to buy it? The answer is that sometimes it's just as important to invest in initiatives that have a chance of succeeding as it is to invest in those that have a chance of failing. While failure is certainly not an option, the likelihood of success varies from campaign to campaign.
Some very successful products and services have come about after a series of failures (such as the Chanel No. 5 perfume). Other products that have become immensely successful have been the result of very careful planning that has lasted many years (the iPhone, for example). Others were disaster prone from the very beginning (such as the Segway). Knowing what to expect means knowing what to avoid, and this can be difficult.
In spite of your best efforts, sometimes you may succumb to a marketing idea or product that proves to be a failure. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that you should keep an eye out for warning signs and learn from those who have already been through it. Like the investor who lets his money slip away through poor investment decisions, someone who allows a marketing campaign or product to fail not only loses money but also loses customers. While losing money can be dealt with by cutting your losses, losing customers is much more difficult to recover from.
Marketing with integrity means staying true to your ideas and your target audience. It also means knowing when to admit defeat and move on, while still maintaining a sense of optimism that keeps you open to the possibilities of future success. As difficult as this may sometimes seem, it's a skill that every marketer must master in order to stay successful in the business world.
This guest article was written by Rex Turner and brought to us by Business 2 Community: Why You Need Marketing with Integrity (And What It Can Do for Your Business) .
Posted by Rex Turner at 1:22 PM
By Rex Turner Marketing with integrity is one of the hallmarks of effective marketing. It's not just about not throwing away a year's worth of marketing money on a product that has no potential to make money and when you've tested the market and found it has little appeal to your target audience, but it's more than that. It is knowing when it is time to invest in something that has a chance at making good things happen for you or your business. There will be times when a campaign just doesn't work out, but another should be launched so that you know what NOT to do in future campaigns. Marketing with integrity is about honesty in dealing with others and yourself. It's about being aware of the chances for success and failure and acting accordingly.
The law of averages says that if you have a 50 percent chance at succeeding, then you will likely succeed around 50 percent of the time. Marketing with integrity means that you are aware of this fact and you know what to do when there is a high probability of failure. Effective marketing means knowing what works and what doesn't work so that when something goes wrong, it may be fixed or avoided in the future. While honesty can be a difficult concept to define, it is important in any business, especially when it comes to dealing with your customers .
Conclusion
It is crucial to understand what kind of marketing with integrity you can expect from your potential suppliers. What you need to do is take a good look at their past performance when it comes to marketing, as well as their advertising campaigns. By looking at past campaigns, you will be able to determine whether they have been effective or not. Effective companies know how to market themselves in order to ensure that they provide quality products and services to their customers. In essence, they know how a product should be marketed in order for it to make money in the long haul. They are willing to test different marketing ideas and see which ones work the best without worrying about the costs of getting started or making mistakes in their advertising campaign .
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Marketing with Integrity