The Purpose of Marketing and Advertising Part 2
I made a promise to deliver some thoughts on Advertising and Marketing that can challenge the way you think about your business. Hopefully, I did not bite off more than I can chew….
In part one, I stated that advertising and marketing is the life blood of business because it brings the new energy a business needs to grow and thrive. I also stated that if you help others achieve their goals with your products and services and deliver more value than they pay, you can turn these new customers into steady streams of new energy through repeat sales and referrals. It is what I believe and I coach my clients to pursue this course as it is one that generates good will and steady profits. This is my twist but if you read the quotes it gets back to ancient spiritual wisdom (this case the Bible) as most of our positive personal and business development ideas do. This is a solid foundation upon which you can build a sustainable approach to growing your business. Now for part two of the series – an even higher purpose for advertising and marketing.
“Our truest life… is when we are in our dreams, awake.”
David Thoreau
I am going to start with a challenge…. If you are not in a business that you love and that gives you joy – get out of it and find one that does. It is only time going by. We are all on a one-way ride called life. If you choose to spend your energy on things that do not give you joy and you do not love so be it. Doing things that you love gives you more energy and work becomes more fun, more joyous and your customers feel this which makes them feel more comfortable … which makes sales easier providing that you deliver value. On the other hand, doing things that are drudgery to you and things you do not like drain your energy and this also come through to your customers…. I’m not saying that your dream business will always be easy because it will be difficult at times – that is why it is called work. But, work does not have to be a drag on your energy or state of mind. When you are working towards your dreams, you are rewarding yourself with every accomplishment that brings you closer to manifesting them. For some people running the best auto repair shop in town might be their dream; for others it might be leaving the corporate “rat race” and opening their own franchise. It can be running your own beauty salon to becoming president of a Fortune 500. It could be running your own accounting firm or it could be developing a spiritual/personal coaching business. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is your dream not mine or anyone else’s…
“I think… therefore I am”
Rene Descartes
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
Jesus
“When the legends die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness.”
Tecumseh
“It always seems impossible until it’s done. “
Nelson Mandela
So what does advertising and marketing have to do with finding your place in the universe?
And what does that have to do with running a successful business?
Let’s start with some dreamers who did not give up:
Fred Smith the founder of Fed Ex
While at Yale, Smith wrote a paper on the need for reliable overnight delivery in a computerized information age. His professor found the premise improbable, and to the best of Smith’s recollection, he only received a grade of C for this effort. I found this information in a biography on Fred Smith… I guess that shows that even Yale Professors are not always on the money!
Thomas Edison
On the light bulb:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. “
Later this was written about Edison marketing his phonograph:
“Edison and his copywriters courted the urban middle class with advertising that made prospective customers feel as entitled to enjoy the pleasures of recorded music as anyone.”
Randall Stross “Edison The Inventor, Edison the Showman” – NY Times 3-11-07
Colonel Sanders
“Colonel” Harland Sanders persevered… “and after a little over 1,000 visits (to sell a franchise for his Kentucky Fried Chicken), he finally persuaded Pete Harman in South Salt Lake, Utah to partner with him. They launched the first “Kentucky Fried Chicken” site in 1952.”
Colonel Sanders Bio – Kentucky Fried Chicken Story, Bio.com
Sylvester Stallone
It has been said that Sylvester Stallone tried to sell the script of Rocky over one thousand times. He turned down an offer over $300,000 when he had a couple hundred dollars in the bank because the studio did not want him to play Rocky. He persevered and the rest is history….
It Starts With a Dream…
All of these people started with an idea, a dream you might say. They next met with push back and obstacles that would have made 99.9% of all people give up. But they pursued their dreams and, upon achieving them, they marketed them. Fed Ex is now a leader in overnight delivery and advertising has played a key role in their growth. Edison was one of our greatest inventors who focused on fulfilling human needs (that makes marketing easier). He changed our world turning night into day with the light bulb and the phonograph which at first was scoffed at, helped to create the music industry. His advertising made people feel entitled to listen to music… and the rest was history…. Kentucky Fried Chicken, now know as KFC, is the leader in fast food chicken. They constantly advertise and market their brand of chicken. The Rocky series was watched by billions of people. If you close your eyes I bet most of you can see the picture of Rocky on top of the stairs with his fists above his head. Yes- that was used in the advertising…. All of these started with a dream that was not given up on. And all of these products and services employed the power of marketing and advertising to reach levels of success that few ever do.
In conclusion, by finding the business you love it is easy to have the extra energy to go the extra mile and make people enjoy doing business with you. It is also easier to persevere through the challenges that will lie in your path. If you employ the right kind of marketing and advertising and measure the result you can, over time, develop a profitable mix that helps you to succeed in achieving your dreams. If you are interested in discovering and effectively marketing to your most valuable markets, we can help.
Accelerated Advertising is a marketing and advertising firm located in Rockland County NY. We service small and mid-sized firms in Rockland County, Westchester County, New York City and surrounding areas including Bergen County NJ and Fairfield County CT and throughout the Hudson Valley. We also serve clients around the country primarily via on-line meetings.
