More than one way to skin a cat

Disclaimer: No Cats were harmed in to create this post. The picture to the left was found on the internet. It is not my cat. This has nothing to do with cats. It's just a weird expression. Whew.


Now on to the important stuff: There are often multiple options to consider when you need to spruce up your marketing. This article come from Small Fuel:

Has your marketing become old, boring, or dull? Is it no longer the powerhouse force that it used to be?

If that’s the case, this article might be just the thing for you. Read more for some simple ways to breathe some new life into your marketing efforts.

Give your campaign a new look

One of the easiest ways to refresh your marketing is to take an old campaign that worked well and give it a slick new look. Good graphic design isn’t very expensive these days, so you should be able to rev-up without breaking the bank.

Same look, new message

Do you have an awesome looking marketing campaign that’s worked well before? One way you might boost sagging results is by tweaking the message a bit—you could make it more specific, change the target a little, or maybe refine it based on new information.

Add a new incentive

A decent or good campaign can often be turned into an extraordinary one by offering the right type of incentive. Free information and trinkets seem to be all the rage, but you need to make sure your offer is relevant and valuable to your target audience in order for it to actually work well.

Personalize it

Some campaigns can work really well by adding a little personalization into the mix. Email marketing and direct mail are two that can be dramatically improved by a few personal words.

Turn one campaign into several

Often times results will dwindle and disappear because a marketing campaign is too general. One way to refresh a good general campaign is to segment it into several campaigns targeted at very specific markets. Results from doing this can be truly phenomenal.

Combine several marketing campaigns

Sometimes marketing that works well on its own can work even better when combined with another type of campaign. A great example of this is the mail-then-call combination, which is several times more effective than either of them alone.

Change the format

A number of campaigns, such as direct mail, can loose their effect after being run a few times (usually after you’ve exhausted quality contact lists). In these cases it can often times be a huge refresher to run roughly the same campaign in a different format. For example, if a print advertisement is no longer bringing in a lot of new business, perhaps you could try changing the publication or putting it online instead.

Focus on existing customers

Marketing campaigns that work well at bringing in new clients usually work well at getting new business out of older clients. These campaigns are also great for generating a lot of new referrals too.

Change the desired action

Most powerful marketing campaigns have a very specific desired action (like a phone call or email sign-up), and sometimes you can reinvigorate the campaign by changing that action. Easier actions get better response rates, whereas harder actions are usually more valuable. It’s up to you to determine what will work best for your small business.

Make your campaign seasonal

Given the large number of holidays, and the changing seasons, you can almost always find some way to put a seasonal spin on a campaign. A campaign that matches up with the current season or holiday shows people that it’s relevant and new, and can be considerably more effective.

Tie your marketing to a current event

In marketing, relevance and newness are very important. By tying your marketing to a current event you can clearly show that your are up with the times, and your marketing will benefit greatly from it.

Sensationalize your marketing campaign

Though I wouldn’t recommend trying this on all of your marketing at the same time, it can be a fun experiment on a single campaign. Often times, completely exaggerating your message will significantly improve results.

Make it a 2-stage campaign

Many small business marketing campaigns involve only one step from first-contact to desired action (for example, a postcard that has a phone number to call). Sometimes these campaigns can work significantly better if there is an intermediate step added. One example for that is a Pay-Per-Click ad that directs a customer to a website that directs a customer to a phone call.

Lower the word count

It’s been shown over and over again that having a shorter message works better than having a long one. Try editing an old campaign and deleting anything not strictly part of your core message—run the campaign again and you’ll be sure to notice an improvement.

Increase the imagery

Powerful images that correspond to your message can do wonders for refreshing a marketing campaign. Think about some previous campaigns that might benefit from some big pretty pictures, and then go ahead and try them out again. A good image can be worth a whole lot more than a thousand words.

That’s all for this list :) I know there are a lot of other good ways to refresh a marketing campaign, so feel free to add anything you think of to the comments.

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