Building your business for the long term ...

Before I started my own marketing company, I used to hate having to pay a PR company up front cash without any guarantee of results.

I went to different PR companies, and it does seem to be the way they do it. But when you walk in and they say, hmmm, about �800 a month would be a starting point - I tended to faint.

Just before they would give you the price, they would ask you what you're budget was, and then they would always wheeze through their teeth (like a dodgy mechanic before he's about to rip you off)

Not everyone can of course, but that �800 per month, just for them to send and automated press release to their usual contacts just seemed so high.

Then, when they say, lets start on your Logo, I realised at that stage that I should just walk out and do it myself.

In fact when any marketing company says "lets work on your logo", you should do just that. Stand Up. Walk Out. And Never Return to them.

The only reason you need a logo is down to your own personal ego. Perhaps the marketing companies feel that a logo is your most important part of your image, and its easier to get money out of you when you get the logo right.

Think of GAP, or DELL, they havent got a great logo. Its not a fantastically funky, trendy and contemporary logo like the Olympics logo that was created for �200k was it ?? Ah .... the price of that logo, and the result that was produced by such an obscene amount of money, was probably not value for money.

So what should you be looking at when you speak to a marketing company?

In fact, what part of your marketing can you do yourself?

You see, some aspects of marketing you should outsource, as we're never experts in everything, but you have to work out your return on that investment.

The return on the �200k olympic investment ? Well at least it got everyone talking about it, but not for the right reasons.

How about sending a splattering of press releases through automated systems at �800 - is that a worthwhile investment?

Do you even know how and why you should be working that out.

As we become more internet aware, it becomes less and less important to have an offline presence. But thats not to say you shouldnt have one at all. Its a combination of marketing that works really well, not just offline, not just online, not just Google Adwords, and not just PR in newspapers.

So that �800 per month, what else could you spend that on and get a decent return on investment? It doesnt even have to be �800 per month, thats just a figure I made up. My main business spends much less than that every month, and we get 35,000 Visitors every month to our website.

�800 is a lot of Google Adwords for example, and if done correctly can result in much more real business (as in cash hitting your account) than "fuzzy" PR that can "help grow your brand".

To be fair, most business owners think they care about brand, but its not the most important part. They care about cash flow and being able to pay the wages. Having a lovely brand is great but useless if you cant pay the bills.

The rules of marketing are changing now, of that there is no doubt. If you type your own name into Google, how many times does it come up? I've just done it now, and Im on the third page before someone elses link comes up. Thats a combination of articles, adverts, websites, replies in forums and the like. Most of that has cost me nothing at all. Of course, you have to give people a reason to type in your name, so articles that in published in print, can drive people to Google and type in the name of you or your company, or your specific service.

I've said this before, but your reputation is NOT what people think about you, but WHETHER people are thinking about you at all.

You could have the best reputation on the planet, but if its only your mum and dad, and your cat, then its not relevant.

So getting your name on everything will help, as will getting your company name on everything. Getting WHAT YOU DO on everything is also very important. All articles should remind people of exacty what you do, who you are, what your company is called and so on. when I do my presentations, pretty much everyone knows that we can rent their property out, provide them with a furniture package, or help market their business through the Marketing Your Small Business company we run.

The traditional methods are quickly becoming outdated, but in some industries of course they will still have a place.

You need to be very careful of where you place your money, and whatever it is you decide to do, make sure you get a good return on investment.

I simply love marketing campaigns whereby you do it ONCE and get custom forever. Some examples of this are website, reciprocal links, search engine optimisation - you pay once and you get forever (although may need a littel maintenance).

Another one (sort of) is Google Adsense, where you set it up once, provide a budget and off it goes, with only a little tweaking now and again.

And then there is FACEBOOK. Ah - what a wonderful invention, you can keep all of your 'friends' - the fact that you may have never met them seems to be not relevent really.

We currently are closing business on Facebook. It can take a while to get going, but it definitely works as part of your marketing mix.

Did you know that you can even target all the ladies turning 40 in Brighton this year (Calm down Dave). Only of course if it fits with your profile, but what a great idea. Much more targetted than Google Adwords, but then a combination of those is the best way forward, not one or the other.

People often ask where I get all the time to get this done, and the simple reply is "can you afford not to?".