Entrepreneurs' Primer on Marketing, Advertising, and
Selling

By: Terry Collison, Blue Rock Capital

 

 

   

Advertising ABCs

10 ways that Advertising issues play a pivotal role in your venture

Marketing What?

Your Promotional "cash flow"

A Model of the Selling Process When the "Product" is You

Selling (and Silence)

A Model of the Real Selling Process – NO Ultimately Means YES

10 Marketing, Selling, and Advertising Tips

The First Rule of Advertising for Entrepreneurs

 

 

 

 

Marketing isn't advertisingSelling isn't the same as marketing.  And advertising isn't selling.  But no matter what your company does, it needs them all – at least in one form or another.

  Marketing Rainbow primer for entrepreneurs

 

 

Based on observing and working with lots of companies, this is easier said than done.

Most companies – and, indeed, most entrepreneurs – readily recognize that effective marketing, advertising, and selling are critical to the success of a venture.  Yet once this importance is acknowledged, there appears to be little parallelism in the way these three critical functions are actually implemented. 

In fact, there appears to be great divergence in the way these three critical functions are even defined.  The differences are not explained simply by different companies (with different objectives) coming up with appropriately different strategies.

In many instances, young companies seem confused or just plain inaccurate (this means "wrong") in the way they understand these three critical functions.  This mini-paper is intended to provide a few quick insights about the linkages between marketing, advertising, and selling.

Advertising ABCs

"Our company would really love to do more advertising but we don't have any money."  Too many companies say this because they allow themselves to get into the situation where it is the truth.

 

 

 

To put it in perspective, imagine an advanced technology company saying "We'd really love to offer products for sale but we don't have any money."  The company would simply not be viewed as credible.  No matter how small or how new, companies that are worthy of commercial success in the marketplace are expected to have some level of advertising built into their normal operating framework. 

  Digital Marketing how to create appealing headlines

 

   

Here are the three most basic realities of advertising:

 

 

 

 

① Each industry and product group has evolved a well established ratio between annual advertising expenditures and targeted annual sales.  If a company wishes to sell $1 million of product next year, then, to be at parity with competitors in its own product class and market, the company must have an advertising budget that is equal to some knowable percentage of its annual sales target.  The ratios for a wide variety of product classes are published annually by various advertising-focused journals.

When a new product is being introduced into a given market, it is normal for a company to spend more than the ratio that is typical in that product class (i.e., instead of an advertising budget that is equal to X% of targeted sales revenue, the product introduction may require a launch budget of 1.2 x X%).

If a company is not already an established player in a given market (i.e., if it has no "brand equity"), it is often necessary to spend a multiple on top of the special product introduction ratio in order to gain visibility and market credibility (i.e., instead of spending 1.2 x X% of targeted first-year sales revenue on advertising, a new company with a new product may have to allocate an amount equal to 1.5 x X% of its targeted first-year sales).  This is a specific instance in which advertising is marketing.

 

 

 

To make matters somewhat more problematical for young companies, the money that must be allocated to advertising must all be spent "up front," i.e., prior  to the realization of sales.  (Hey, I didn't invent these tough realities; I just promised to report them to you.)  The concept of "promotional cash flow" is shown here.

 

Winning Customers

Create Customers

Venture Marketer

Virtuoso Marketing

 

 

   

Advertising is the process of communicating information to your targeted customers.

 

 

 

 

The content of what is communicated – unique selling proposition (USP), product benefits, value statements, features, reasons to buy, who's behind this wonderful company, pricing, competitive comparisons, your logo, your distinguished customer list – are all variables that can be used and combined in various ways depending on your program and overall differentiation strategy.

 

 

 

What is essential is that each company communicate to appropriate potential customers.  Everything else  about  the  advertising  function  is details.  The  need for the advertising  function is absolute. 

 

Winning Customers

Brand Attributes

Advertising Slogans

 

 

 

Advertising cannot be ignored (or deferred until cash flow magically picks up because the company sees the virtues of its product as "virtually self evident").

Want some other ideas about advertising?

  Marketing Rainbow primer for entrepreneurs

 

   

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10 ways that Advertising issues play a pivotal role in your venture