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Someone recently explained to me that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different result.  Man, have I ever been insane!  I do this with many aspects of my life, but one example is with computers and technology.  I’m the guy who will continue to try the same couple of combinations while working on a website for about an hour thinking maybe the 99th time will work and I just had to try it 98 times in order to get there!  I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve stayed up messing around with my iPhone or editing HTML on my blog to get everything to line up right.

People do that with their businesses every day.  How many clients tell me they continue to advertise in a local newspaper because it’s what they’ve always done?  It doesn’t really work much if at all, but they like the way the ad looks and it’s something they can hold on to and feel like they are at least making an attempt to draw in new customers.  They tell me all the time how much they don’t like their website, but a friend built it for them and the price was right, but it’s not a very good representation of their services and doesn’t really drive any traffic or even show up in search results.  Another great line I get is, “Well, people don’t really know what we do, but we have a billboard up to get our name out there.”

If you or your business is stuck in a rut, you can come up with all kinds of excuses like “Oh, the economy is terrible right now.”  “People are still out of work”.  “I’d love to re-image our logo and marketing material, but I’m just wearing too many hats right now.”  Continuing to step on the gas, when you are stuck in the mud only digs you in deeper!

Here’s what I have learned in my own life as well as by the example of many successful clients.

1. You have to stop doing the same thing expecting a different result.  Just stop it.  Right now.  Do it!
2. Be willing to make some changes.  Drastic ones if you need to.  Move your location.  Change your company’s name!  Come up with a new logo or color design.  Do something DIFFERENT.
3. Network!  Go to a morning chamber coffee meeting?  It’s awkward to talk to people you don’t know, but what if your next top sales person is there?  Talk to your customers.  Find out what they do for a living.
4. Get some help.  There are tons of marketing and advertising experts in the world.  (I’m one of them)  We spend hours and hours thinking about commercials, design, promotions, all to drive traffic, increase sales, get your customer’s attention.  It’s our full time job.  We have really good ideas and have experience with what works because we work with a lot of other smart businesses out there who know that they can’t do it alone.

Getting help & a support system is an important lesson that I have learned the hard way.  We can’t do it alone.  If you don’t have a team of fans in your corner, co-workers, business partners, etc., then you are doing yourself a disservice.  Your friends will help pull you out of the mud!  And you never know… some time you might be called to return the favor.

So, what are you going to do today that’s different than yesterday?

TV will continue to be the main driver for advertisers according to a recent Strata survey of advertising agencies.  Even though a lot of money is being shifted online, the majority is still being spent on television.

“To advertisers, TV still matters,” said John Shelton, STRATA President/CEO.“But just as radio gave way to television, we can see that TV is slowly giving way to digital. The good news for TV stations and networks—for now – is that they remain the dominant medium. The survey taps into the perception that digital has its limitations in reach and effectiveness and must still be used with traditional media like TV.” (Cable Spots 5/24/10) 

Other noteworthy stats:

• About half of the agencies polled feel that business is improving.
• 25% plan on hiring staff this year.
• 87.5% are likely to use Facebook in a client’s campaign; 57.1% Twitter; 39.3% YouTube.
• 32.1% say their clients will spend less money on radio than they did a year ago.
• 67.9% place digital allocations toward online display, then social media, then PPC/Search/ SEO

We are seeing this in Kansas City as well.  Online advertising has become an important part of a marketing consultation and that wasn’t the case when I entered this industry several years ago.  If you haven’t researched opportunities to advertise on cable providers ISP portals, you are missing out on a great opportunity.

Like this study revealed, TV programming should remain the lion’s share of sound ad allocation, but don’t ignore advertising online.  At Time Warner, we have the ability to place banner ads on www.roadrunner.com.  This is the site where anyone with a kc.rr.com e-mail address can go to check their e-mail.  It’s also a standard homepage for many Internet users.  There are all kinds of local news and programming information, even links to online dating!

The biggest benefit of this site is the fact that all banner ads are exclusively placed by market, so in KC you will only have web banners placed in front of Internet users in Kansas City.  Most competitive sites such as the one run by the local newspaper does not filter online ads to local IP addresses which means there is often a lot of waste!

In the same way that cable TV advertisers eliminate waste by only advertising in the metro area where the majority of the population lives, online opportunities offer the same advantage.  This equates to more commercials or banners in front of the right people more often!

Are you shifting your advertising budget around?  Are you using more digital platforms?  What’s working for you?