Newer Isn’t Always Better: What Apple’s iPod Nano teaches us about Small Business Marketing
The newest Apple iPod Nano is a heck of a gadget. In addition to an MP3 player and FM tuner, it now boasts the ability to take pictures and video, whereas the older iPod touch cannot.
Initially I was a little annoyed at my iPod touch’s lack of picture/video ability, but after thinking about it, I realized that I never even take pictures or video. In fact, I have a digital camera laying around somewhere right alongside my impressive collection of dust.
Sometimes, in the presence of shiny new things, our desires overshadow what we actually need. Small business marketing is no exception. Business owners are always quick to jump onto the newest marketing fads, like social media and all its hip looking web 2.0 social media campaigns. The guerrilla marketing bug has definitely made the rounds many times over, but the big question that everyone needs to keep in mind is: “Is it working for my business?”.
Just because it exists, doesn’t mean that you need it. I could have easily caved in and purchased an iPod Nano, but it would have been unnecessary. After critically analyzing the situation, I remembered that I hate taking pictures and video.
How about some critical thinking for new ventures in your business’s marketing strategy?
Are you leveraging social media? Guerilla marketing? Mass mailouts? Do you really need a youTube, Twitter, or Facebook account? Is your target demographic utilizing these tools as well, or are you simply wasting your budget and time?
Let’s say you own a restuarant that makes deliciously greasy and unhealthy food. Following the recent “health” trend might not be a great direction for your marketing campaign. You’d probably do better by continuing to seek out and target the demographic that eats at your restaurant because they love unhealthy, but delicious food.
Then again, hot marketing trends may work in your favor. If “green energy” and environmentally minded companies are all the rage, and you’re a re-bath company, you might do well by focusing a little marketing capital towards attracting that demographic.
You simply need to keep track of what is working and what is not. If you try a social media campaign and it yields poor results, then you’ll be better off sticking with your current campaign. If it flies, then you’ve found a marketing winner.
Not every marketing fad will work for your business, and in our technological age it is easy to blindly feed resources into novel methods of generating business. However, if you keep careful track of your endeavors, and can figure out which marketing methods are yielding the best ROI, then you’ll be able to fine tune your marketing capital expenditures adjust your campaign accordingly.