The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

My first real taste of what I thought was marketing was based on running some advertisements in Black Belt magazine back in 1994. These ads were trying to sell some books and videos I had authored. They had met with some original success by direct sales to my students, martial art school owners within my personal network, and even bookstores. Since I was an avid reader of Black Belt magazine, I figured that once everyone knew about them they would naturally buy a copy and I would be fabulously wealthy within a few weeks.

I decided to try my hand at writing ads and met with minimal success. My ad went unnoticed, unread or was simply unbelievable. Then I received a letter from a guy who noticed my ad, and said he could help me.

He was also a martial artist and an expert at writing ads across many industries. He even said he could find financing for the ad, so it seemed like a risk-free proposition. For a brief time everything seemed to work, and I was on my way to selling many books. We tested many media, even major newspapers in New York. Then I began losing money and the ads stopped working.

My career was taking off, I was finishing up my MBA and I had a growing family. So I stopped running the ads, and marketed the books organically through seminars, classes, courses and affiliate schools.

Later, after striking out on my own from the corporate world in 2000, I began to realise the value of the skills I had learned. And that marketing was more than advertising, and instead based on building relationships. These relationships would lead to multiple streams of income across multiple industries.

Since then I have helped many companies increase brand awareness through relationships. There are many ways to do this regardless of the industry you are in, and it comes down to one key principle: Providing useful information or products to persons in the manner that they are best equipped to receive it. For example, think of the many ways in which this newspaper is distributed: Street vendors, convenience stores, gas stations, online and many more.

So, as a member of the marketing revolution, remember that marketing is more than placing ads. It is the sponsoring of community events, providing samples of your product or service to others, joint ventures with complementary companies, giving informational seminars, using social media etc. These are all channels to get your product or service out there to the people who want them.

• NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To contact him he can be reached at DArcyRahmingsr@gmail.com.