For being termed a “creative” individual, I have just as many analytical tendencies (in fact, over the several times I’ve tested as to which side of the brain is dominant for me, the results have inevitably been almost dead center, just slightly “over the line” on the right side). So, that being said, here’s an admission coming out of the closet for me, about a mental practice I’ve had since I started driving, some 24 years ago: Whenever I’m on a long car ride, I play with the formula for distance in my head almost every time I pass a mileage sign. I look at the miles I have left to get to my destination via the posted sign, look at my speedometer, and divide my speed into the distance. Even more embarrassing: If I know the way to my destination very well, I’ll even break up the distance into a certain period of miles at a different speed (accounting for a more or less congested area), and add them all together.

Here’s another admission: When I do that, I’m usually pretty accurate at arrival time once we’re in the car!

My kids – 12 and 14 years old – are amazed that I can even DO that kind of math in my head – God forbid the world existed without calculators today, right? When they ask me how I know how to do that, I tell them, “Because I had to learn math the OLD way… we weren’t allowed to use calculators in class until Pre-Calculus.” (Yes, not only did I take Pre-Calc, I took it all the way through Calculus II in college… and loved it! But that’s a story for another day…) My husband and I have both been frustrated with the way the school system has taught our kids math – using calculators since FOURTH GRADE – and when we show them how to derive a formula the long way (aka THE OLD WAY), they look at us like we have 2 heads. Don’t get me wrong – I use a calculator as much as the next person today – but when there are none available, I know I can still do a good portion of figuring in my head, or on paper.

My kids know it works… so they readily come to me when they’re stumped on figuring out an algebraic equation, because they know I can typically figure out the answer quickly and work them through it… THE LONG WAY (aka, THE “OLD” WAY, in their minds! LOL).

I also think it’s what helps my capability with what I do.

In reading that, you might ask, “So, how in the world does figuring out math problems in your head have ANYTHING to do with marketing strategy and programs?!”

I thought you’d never ask.

I’ve had the AWESOME opportunity to be actively working in professional, strategic marketing for 21 years now – through transition from THE OLD WAY of doing things to today’s split-second, digitally integrated methods. Because strategic marketing has entailed watching and studying consumer/market behavior change through a magnifying glass for 21 years, while I’ve been changing and adapting myself, that experience allows me to be able to see the big picture of what really changes, and simply becomes taking the short cut – like using the calculator.

I don’t think either are completely right or completely wrong – though people and our societies have changed, the meaning of marketing hasn’t. When you pull away from it and see it from the birds eye view, electronic capabilities and the Internet have simply provided the ability to gain and provide a wide scale of information much more quickly (statistics, market and competitor information, and information an individual is seeking).

When I first entered the marketing field, I was quickly taught – and saw the evidence of – the number of times (in the marketing field, it’s called “impressions”) it took before someone would take notice, of an ad printed in a publication, shown on TV, or played on the radio; a flyer, direct mail letter, or a postcard; a billboard; an event; mention in the media; or any other communication tactic available and logical in the integrated mix. The numbers and percentages that I had on hand for measurement were based upon the number of impressions the target market was typically exposed to in one day, as well as what type of media (what magazines, newspapers, radio stations, etc.)  interested the target market

The resulting numbers were typically pretty accurate.

Things have sped up exponentially over the past few years… and relatively few in the marketing field take the time to gather those numbers, to provide some kind of quantifiable result or quantifiable expectation. And fewer and fewer – especially in the world of small or medium business – demand them, or even take the time out to understand them.

So, what am I spewing on about? Here’s an oversimplification of come very complex formulas:

20, 15, even 10 years ago, if you ran an ad in a publication that your target market actively read, you wouldn’t see the majority of ANY response until the ad ran at least 10-15 times in that publication. And that would typically be a pretty large, well-designed ad. If you added the integration of radio, other publications, and a number of other mixes, you were simply better seeding the field – if a certain person in the target market missed that edition of Their Interest Weekly, they might still hear it on their favorite radio station or maybe pass a billboard about it on their way home from work or the store. Why 10-15 times? Because of the items that competed for attention in that person’s consciousness – between work, home, what was for dinner, why they had indigestion from their lunch, who’s turn it was to take the kids to soccer practice – and when those practices were that week, what was going on that weekend, the faucet leak in the bathroom at home, etc., etc., etc. It was typically about the fifth or sixth time an individual saw something that something would “click,” and they would remember what they saw… and then typically several more times of that same information being pushed into that person’s consciousness before they would even act on it. Of course, this would deviate depending on the cost, market, seasonability, level of urgency for that type of product, and a variety of other things. But you get the idea…

So, here we are, years and awesome technologies later, and guess what? Now it takes an even higher number of times for someone to see and remember something. Why? Because we are bombarded with marketing messages, everywhere, almost all day, and we have to process A LOT more information than we used to. Recent statistics estimate that the number of messages the typical American receives per day is more than the same person would have been exposed to over a year just 35 years ago.

Now, on top of it, the world has changed to expect a relationship with the person behind the product company!

Yet, at the same time, we all want it yesterday.

So, how does that translate to the business owner? More messages, of course! Luckily, the Internet and the digital world allow that capability, if the effort is made… efficiently and strategically.

Too often, someone who is starting a new business and/or has been in business for a number of years and is ready to “take the next step”  is too busy dealing with the delivery of the products or services of their company to pay close attention to the marketing world and what’s changing on a daily basis. Yet, they know they need to enter, expand in, or further develop their visibility efforts. So, when their daughter, son, -in-law. neighbor, friend, or someone else who has influence in their lives tells them they “need to be blogging,” “need to be on Facebook,” or something else of the kind, they tend to say, “OK,” but they don’t know why they should be… or if it really applies to them and their business. Nor do they often know the need for longevity and consistency needed (how many times, where, and when to put their message out) to really make a difference from those efforts. So, they press ahead, start to blog, create a Facebook page, and… after two, three, or five posts (sometimes over the course of a few weeks or a month), just decided to abandon the idea, because people didn’t magically start wanting to buy their product or service out of thin air.

I’ve even had that issue with long-term clients. At the onset, I explain that we need to work on their efforts over a period of time, and that they most likely will not see immediate results. So, they write 6 or 8 blogs, don’t want to promote it to their friends, family, or colleagues (because they don’t want to “bother” them, even if they would be perfect for their product or service), don’t post anything to social media sites where their clients would be looking for their product or service, and yet will spend time looking around at what others are doing in their industry. Then, often just when things are starting to turn around, they completely abandon the efforts because they didn’t see a quick enough result. Then they asked me why those efforts failed!

So, what this boils down to: There’s always a method to the madness. If you’re a business owner and someone tells you, “You need to blog!” or “You need to be on Twitter!” First step back and ask, “Why?” They might be right; but before taking that step, make sure what they recommend is informed. Ask if they know the demographics of your market(s) – does the age group, gender, income level, profession you target use that medium regularly, and in the mindset they would need to be in to want to get your product or service when they’re using that medium? If an engineer is on their computer at work and sees information about something they want to buy when they’re not working, they’re going to have to remember how to find you when they’re home, and actively thinking about purchasing that product or service. That would be a disconnect!

So, whatever the tools you use to employ your marketing effort, make sure what you do is informed, and that you have the patience to potentially ride it out over a period of 3-4 months before seeing a solid response (or, set realistic response milestones along the way). To me, there’s nothing more wasted than the efforts of a business owner on the implementation of a marketing tool that is either irrelevant or poorly executed (including if it’s implemented over too short a period of time). Knowing the questions behind the questions – knowing the whys as well as the whats – will make you agile, easy to adapt, and give you a higher incidence of success in your market efforts than constantly shooting from the hip, just because everyone around you is, as well…. even though they might be misinformed and/or are really targeting a different demographic that would not be relevant to you.

Now, if I could only figure out the accurate algebraic formula for getting out the door in time!!! 

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