Is Advertising the solution to your business problems?

IS ADVERTISING THE SOLUTION TO YOUR BUSINESS PROBLEMS?

Sales are low – we need a advertising. Profits are low – we need advertising. Customers don’t like our products - advertising.

These are some of the statements people in management and business owners say. Not all, but a good number.

Which brings me to the questions, does Marketing (Advertising) solve all business problems? Depending who you ask, the answer can easily vary from person to person.

Every business needs an element of marketing, not necessarily advertising. If anything with a good/right application of the marketing principles, one really doesn’t need advertising.

Back to Basics (that we often forget)

My definition of marketing is understanding the market, knowing the customers, producing (offering) them something they want/need. This has to be at the right price (where they feel they get value) delivered by the right people (the team) at the right time and place.

Now, with that basic understanding of marketing, as a business owner/manager, will advertising still solve all your problems? You as a manager are better off ticking off all other boxes before advertising.

Yes, there is a place for advertising. Yes, it can bring in new customers. Yes, it can increase your turnover. No, it won’t be sustainable unless all other factors are catered for.

Other Factors

I believe that understanding the market and all its players are paramount. If you really want to kick ass in the game, you have to know the game and all its players. This ranges from the industry to your competitors, market leads, and why they are leaders, failures – and why they failed and most importantly – the customer.

If you begin with the customer and truly understand what it is they want/need, you can then produce the same at the most efficient and effective manner. But for you to do that, you need to know what others are offering and how they are doing it.

Understanding the customer is the utmost important thing. After all, they will be your source of income. Understanding the product is equally crucial. This will come as a byproduct by fully understanding both the industry and the customer.

The importance is understanding the two variables is cause many times, businesses have one of the two variables correct – but not both. This means you can have the right customer, but the wrong product. Or, you can have the right product – selling it to the wrong customer.

The other day I was consulting for a restaurant and they were facing a similar challenge. They had a great target audience, business good – they had found their sweet spot. However – business being business, they wanted to grow their business.

One item they didn’t have on their menu were pastries. Therefore, they outsourced the production of pastries to a fancy chef – who of course makes fancy pastries.

For weeks, they stuffed their fancy displays with these fancy pastries. However – the uptake of the same was dismal. Most of the times, the members of staff ate over 80% of the stock – just so they didn’t go bad.

From the above situation – they had a good pool of customer and the desired product. The customers always come saw these pastries – and didn’t but. After some research, it was evident the price point wasn’t good – and the customer didn’t get the feeling of “value for money”. The customers weren’t interested in the fancy pastries, but wanted something more practical and of course- more affordable. After the survey, my advice to them was to get a supplier who can produce what the customers actually want.

In such a situation, there would be no way one would have achieved sustained growth and revenue with the above business model – even with marketing and advertising.