For the longest time, the subject of marketing had a very mysterious component attached to it. It had to do with the fact that despite the numerous and stellar examples of large marketing and advertising campaigns, and their complete success among some of largest corporations on Earth, why then did so many small and medium sized businesses treat marketing as a “luxury” item they try to do without? What was good and what worked for major corporations was somehow considered irrelevant, unimportant and perhaps even ineffective for Diane’s Daycare or Jerry’s Custom Surfboards.

So why don’t some of these folks promote?  Why do some of them only promote erratically? We've talked to people who said they had a bad location; that there was too much competition for the same product or service; that they couldn’t “afford” to float a marketing program; or even that they will let their product speak for itself.

Years ago skiing in Utah was a well-kept secret of the locals. Utah was not considered much of a destination. Then developers discovered these narrow canyons with the greatest snow on earth. They built condos and lodges that needed filling. They got out their marketing manuals and the rest is history. So much for location. As for competition, every business person knows going in that there will be competition. Only marketing can help them stand out and promote what is unique and different about them, setting them apart from the competition. Letting one’s product or services speak for themselves is an idea that went by the boards around the time newsprint came into fashion. Back then maybe you’d see a saddletramp riding by the homestead. You'd notice he had a really fine looking saddle. After you let him water his horse, you might ask him about that fine saddle and he’d tell you about a master leather crafter down in old Mexico. People like this still exist today, but we don’t often hear about them, do we?

This takes us to the more philosophical aspect of marketing. It seems especially valid for smaller businesses that don’t have people whose sole purpose for showing up each day is to figure out ways to market the business. These folks market away day in and day out. They have momentum in their marketing. Last month’s campaign is driving in business today and they’re working on the next big idea. Their main struggle is to be fresh and remain effective.

In our experience, the struggles of the smaller business is often attached to a difficulty in believing that any marketing effort they can mount could possibly have any kind of effect. “Marketing is mysterious, it’s expensive and what if it doesn’t work? I’d rather buy a new desk, or maybe a new color laser printer. They’re tangible improvements.”  Yes, but they won’t bring in new customers. And, if marketing didn’t work, the big players could save millions in advertising. If McDonalds stopped advertising for just a couple months, Burger King would have a field day. Any time the numbers are down, you can count on the big players to step up their marketing efforts. That hot new designer Tee shirt your kid just bought for $50 was a complete no-name label until somebody threw a marketing campaign at you with that no-name in the middle of it. Bet on it.

So a real barrier to marketing is the proprietor who doesn’t really think he can do much about it! The business is going to rise and fall with the tide — good economy, bad economy. The competition moves out of the neighborhood and business gets better. Then a new competitor moves in and it’s back to square one. This, to too many business owners is just karma or kismet, all very mysterious and totally beyond one’s control. Unfortunately, this is the philosophical model of far too many small business owners. If it doesn’t apply to you personally, you know business owners to whom it does.

The first step in getting anyone started on doing something of consequence about marketing their business is to STOP doing certain things that are counterproductive to growth and prosperity.

1. Stop blaming a bad location
2. Stop blaming the competition
3. Stop blaming the economy
4. Stop blaming the weather
5. Stop blaming the traffic
6. Stop blaming your parents, husbands, wives, children, in-laws!!
7. In short, stop blaming (which is really just saying you assign responsibility for your situation to another) anything and everything that you don’t have direct control over.

This puts you in a novel position where you are now really able to take full responsibility for a zone of activity that you actually can control. While the full burden of this responsibility now rests squarely on your shoulders, you have also put yourself on a well-defined playing field that you can control. You all but ignore things outside your area of control and focus on things you can control. Then the attainment of goals and success can also be directly credited to YOU. It wasn’t luck or the economy, or the fact that Mars was in alignment with Jupiter.

Once the key players of a business reach this level of thinking, then the prospect of launching a marketing campaign as part of general business planning seems like the sensible thing to do. And just as nobody has to convince you to pay the monthly light bill, marketing will become a second nature activity, the inhale and the exhale of the business.

If you know anyone whose business is alive but not necessarily well, who takes every opportunity to blame the economy or curse the heavens for his miserable luck, tell them there is something that can be done about it. Send them to this Web site.