Marketing - What we really don't know.

This week, we discussed marketing and what we really don't know. Sometimes it's hard to admit what we don't know as business owners. But, BRN is really getting people to open up and honestly discuss what they need help with. Even with nearly 25 years in marketing, I'm perplexed when it comes to marketing in this economy.

In my introduction, I referred to a blog posting that referenced an OTO Research Report about consumer reaction to our current economic crisis. It talked about how we need to move away from marketing to the middle; people are either looking for highest quality or best bargains and not much in-between. Click here to read more.

I also summarized a Ezine article on the 7 Myths About Marketing in Economic Downturns.

The first question that I asked everyone to write down and discuss was, "What is it that you don't know about marketing but would like to learn more about." The reason for this was two-fold. First, it would give everyone a chance to be honest in an environment that promotes being open and candid. Secondly, it gives me a better idea about what topic we can dig deeper in future meetings or in our online discussions.

So, what don't we know? We had a few members that openly admitted, "I don't know squat about marketing." That's a good start...but not specific enough. I'm providing a list of the questions below.

1. How do you track non-specific advertising such as ads, networking, non-Internet?
2. How do you attract your target audience to your website?
3. How do you know what your marketing mix should be based on your industry?
4. Which mediums are better...radio, TV, print, Internet, etc...?
5. How do you know what your customers are feeling right now (psychographics) and what makes them buy?
6. Why are there so many different telephone books and does anyone use them?
7. What is the best Internet search engine and how do you position your business in the search?
8. How do you implement a PR plan?
9. How do you find your ideal target market?
10. What is social media?
11. How do people find time to participate in social networking?
12. How do you track Return on Time/Energy?
13. How do you leverage your participation in booth events/trade shows?
14. How do you get a company's corporate marketing and local marketing to come together on a geographical marketing initiative?
15. How can you provide a UVP (Unique Value Proposition) that will trigger a response?
16. How can I get over my reluctance to set pricing and charge fees that I feel I deserve?
17. How can I place myself (brand awareness) in the market place?
18. How can I generate organic leads from my website?
19. How can I distinguish/separate myself from my competition?
20. How can I better market myself instead of my company's brand/products?

As you can see, we could have spent an entire day on discussing each of these questions. But, at least we got the cards on the table. Now, we can start chipping away at each of these and help get your businesses pointed in the right direction.

The second question was "What is the single biggest marketing challenge that you face right now?"

Again, if you have thoughts, questions, suggestions, or would like to tell us your biggest marketing challenge, please feel free to participate in the discussion.

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