Or, why stopping your advertising for a while may be the smartest thing you ever did.

Small businesses frequently feel like they are in a life and death struggle. Half of all startups fail by year five. Only half of those remaining will make it to year ten. Yet here in our small office, we still believe that entrepreneurship showcases the very best that humanity can offer and brings out the best in people. We believe in the evolution of the fittest businesses. The environment does not cause a company to fail, but rather proves its preparedness and adaptability.

In order to help our small business clients become one of the fittest, we practice Intelligent Design, applying its principles to strengthen the core of business and to help entrepreneurs tell their story in a visual way. Intelligent Design fights for the survival of the small business specie, to preserve it from extinction.

Let me tell you about a typical day in the life of an Intelligent Designer. A business owner comes into our office, desiring to advertise their product by creating a trifold brochure. The litmus test: they do not know what they want to say. Not being able to verbalize their story is a symptom of a deeper issue. It is an indicator that we need to help them start from the bottom up.

Take a look at this pyramid illustration. This entire pyramid is marketing. Do you see the little red triangle at the top? That tiny word reads “Advertising”. Advertising is only a small part of marketing. It is the very last thing that happens in the process of building a brand. Without foundation underneath, the advertising will not have the very support it needs to work.

The reality is, if you are already in business, you are already a marketer. Your marketing is either by plan or it is by accident. One indicator that people are working without a marketing plan is they are only focused on advertising. Marketing by accident is a bit like flying without instruments. Sure, you can fly without instruments for a while, but you will not be able to weather any storm.

Your Marketing is not the features and benefits of your product. It is not your logo. It is not your graphics. It is not your advertising. Marketing is the entire thing. It is the overarching customer experience, beginning to end. Your marketing plan is a set of choices for how you wish to conduct your business. It is the company you have chosen to be, it is the value you place on your customer’s table to the research and development of your best possible product, to your external story. Every person at every level of your company, even the person sweeping the floor, is involved in marketing.  Advertising is only an itty bitty part. Marketing tells your whole story. Advertising collects on the results, but only when the marketing story is worth listening to in the first place. After that, Brand can only happen when and if the customer agrees that your story is true.

Until you understand what marketing is, and where it begins and ends, you will never have a strong foundation for your company. And until your marketing plan is clear, your advertising will never work or will work poorly at best.

Making your business what you want it to be right from the start is a massive challenge, but also a massive opportunity. If your current advertising is not working, the best thing you can do is stop. Stop advertising and work on your foundation. Make your product irresistible. Your advertising will then work better, as if by magic. And your business can then evolve to become the fittest in the ecosystem.
That’s this week’s Imagination Hat!