Marketing strategies that work for large corporations don’t work for small businesses.
In fact, attempted implementation can even put a small business out of business.
Want an example?
Media Mix.
So we’re all on the same page, media mix is defined as running your advertising on multiple types of media. To name the most common, it includes things like:
– Newspaper
– Radio
– Television
– Billboards
– Digital
– Email
– Direct mail
– Social media
Each type of media has a minimum effective dose. Any amount of spend or exposure less than the minimum and you might as well have flushed your money down the toilet. (I hear that in Australia if you do less than the minimum your money goes down in the opposite direction.)
For example, it is regarded that the minimum effective dose of ibuprofen is 200mg. But what if I only have a little headache? Can’t I just take 100mg?
No. That’s not how it works. It’s called the “minimum effective dose” for a reason. Any less and you’ve still paid to take the drug but with none of the benefits.
Now, what does minimum effective dose and media mix have to do with small business?
As a small business, you probably can’t afford to maintain the minimum effective dose on multiple media channels.
This is not any kind of failure of the small business owner. It’s just the facts.
So, what’s to be done?
As a small business, choose one media and do it well. Then, as your business grows and you can afford to add a media channel, add it. But do so without dropping the first media.
Eventually, you won’t be a small business anymore, and you’ll have the “media mix” you always heard so much about.
– Zac Smith, VC
