Which are the BEST Marketing Tools?

Yesterday I had a call from a client who wanted to put together their 2008 program to build 2009 business and we talked through the general direction of his program. With the dizzing array of marketing tools, it’s hard even for marketers to know exactly what is the right tool for the limited marketing budget.

It’s a trick to combine traditional marketing techniques with the quickly growing and ever changing Web 2.0 techniques… especially with cycles that are longer than some of the techniques have been around. So the traditional, tried & true mantra of testing, testing, testing doesn’t always work.

That’s when I like to supplement what is “known” with some helpful analytics. One expert marketing source who is especially knowledgeable about forecasting changes in consumer behavior is Kevin Hillstrom, author of Mine That Data. The other day he wrote about the many, many direct marketing tools that seem to scream, blare and cancel each other out like booths at a Farmers’ Market:

Maybe it has always been this way, but the marketing voices we have to listen to seem to want to polarize us… Each booth has a small but fiercely loyal tribe of believers. Each tribe is able to “prove” to you why they are right. And each tribe “is” right … to an extent.I want to be presented with a bowl of direct marketing cioppino. Instead, all I see are cutting boards full of uncooked ingredients, arguing with each other about why each individual ingredient is best.

It’s so true. Everyone has their favorite marketing tools, but not all tools are right for each product, service, industry, client or target market. You really have to determine the tool based on each situation.

During this time of budgeting in many business professional’s yearly cycle, knowing what to use when is a real challenge.

Author: Chris Brown

Business owner operating a marketing consulting firm. Online Publisher. Keynote Speaker. View all posts by Chris Brown