The Tribune

By Scott Farrington

A little of DIS or a lot of DAT. Be short, sweet and to da point .

I’m not an artist, nor do I have any artistic abilities. However, I always remember an artist who would set up a very large canvas, say 12x12, grab a couple of buckets of paint and literally throw the contents out of the bucket upon the canvas. Voila. There you have it: Art. The artist would sell these pieces for thousands of dollars.

After seeing that, I would say to myself: “Well, heck, I can do that” Maybe I should start throwing some paint around and change my name to Michelet Van Gogh, and retire early.

In marketing, it appears that quite a few companies throw their marketing out on blank canvases (the general public), and believe they have achieved a marketing master piece.

The traditional method of blasting the airwaves or written media, whether it be TV, radio, paper, magazines, is old school, in my opinion. The method of throwing out enough marketing on a general canvas, and hoping some of it sticks, is not the most prudent way of spending your marketing dollars. Doing a lot of DAT is wasteful to a degree.

Going back to the artist throwing paint upon a canvas, it works to a degree, but what about all the paint that splashes back off and falls to the ground? Waste, right? Chalk it up to expenses or the cost of doing business/marketing. That is a lot of DAT. Throwing DAT around is exactly DAT? Waste, splash back etc.

Try this DIS instead.

Take that large canvas and break it down into 1x1 pieces, or squares if you like. Each square represents a market. Remember I wrote an article about soft drinks, and a company that wanted to know which cola was the best. The result, after spending millions of dollars, was that there is not one cola but many colas. Diet, sugar free, zero calories, caffeine free etc. Well, every company’s market is the same. There is a little of DIS in every niche/market/brand.

In tough times, one of the first things companies do is cut marketing. When you cut marketing, you cut sales, and when you cut sales you cut the main artery that delivers your master piece profit.

So, take each 1x1 piece of your canvas do a little specific marketing.

Determine who buys, when do they buy, why do they buy/or use our product or services? Why us and not the competition - differentiation.

Then break that down a little further. Who are the who’s, when are the when’s and why are the why’s? And why us and not them?

After you break that down, ask where these people go, what they do, how do they do it. When you get your answers, then you can determine which canvas to throw your marketing paint on and which colour to use.

Use in store flyers, coupons, and you already have the little pieces of canvaswalking into your business. Have a person stop and hand out these specific flyers/coupons, offering either a discount or advertising an in-house special or service specific to that canvas you wish to promote.

Another little of DIS you can do is have one person (rotating weekly, monthly) from your company go and visit these specific little pieces of canvas where they are. Please don’t send them out with pages of documents. Use small one-minute introductions (that you have pre-written, memorised, trained), small flyers, coupons and let them just gently touch (not literally), speak and interact.

Each person then goes through a debriefing on their return and discusses the feedback. Tweak that information, asking the questions from above. Reapply until you have perfected your masterpiece.

This is the actual part where you are painting DIS, the little pieces of canvas, instead of throwing the whole bucket of DAT (marketing dollars) paint out there.

Yes, I know it is not the Michelet Van Gogh to all your marketing needs, but it sure is specific and hits the exact pieces of canvas that need a little of DIS paint, and not the whole bucket of DAT paint that splashes back off and is wasted.

All these sales and marketing strategies are certain to keep your business on top during these challenging economic times. Have a productive and profitable week.

Remember, those who market will make it.

• NB: NB: Scott Farrington is president of SunTee EmbroidMe, a promotional and marketing company specializing in uniforms, embroidery, silk screen and promotional products. Established over 27 years ago, SunTee EmbroidMe has assisted local businesses from various industries in marketing themselves. Readers can contact Mr Farrington at SunTee EmbroidMe on East Shirley Street, or by e-mail at scott@sun-tee.com or by telephone at 242-393-3104.