Know this Small Business Marketing Tip
If you Plan on Using Meat Loaf
In Your Marketing

After you read this article watch the YouTube video at the bottom of the page. I am using it to emphasize a very important small business marketing tip. It's been running for a while and it is a great case study on what is missing from most big company ads.





If you are looking for a small business marketing tip you can use to insure your ads deliver positive returns, learn this lesson from one of the largest companies in the world! This is a great lesson to for entrepreneurs who are thinking about using media advertising as one of their small business marketing tools.

This ad features rock icon Meat Loaf (born Michael Lee Aday)? His album Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, has sold close to 40,000,000 copies and was on the charts for over 9 years. He is the guy playing the dad in this commercial.

You see Meat Loaf as a dad whose son is singing a ballad to him to get him a cell phone and promising that he won't run up the minutes. I personally like Meat Loaf and his music and I think the commercial is pretty cool with a very catchy tune that pulls some lyrics and riffs from Meat Loaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

The other afternoon, I heard the commercial and started singing the tune in my head and realized I had seen the commercial several times and could not think of the company or brand of the phone! I know this was a pretty pricey production because in addition to Meat Loaf, Tiffany is in the commercial and they are definitely fairly expensive talent to hire.

After all of the effort and money that went into the commercial, I couldn't relate a brand or a product to the ad! I kept an eye out for the next airing and saw it was for the AT&T GoPhone. Think of all the resources that went into creating the spot. That doesn't even include th price of prime time airings of the spots.

They did a lot of things right like using celebrity endorsements, a good tune and an entertaining production. But it really made me wonder, why couldn't I think of the company or the product? What was the point of the ad? We can probably assume it was to "build the brand" of the phone but it failed miserably in building anything I would even remember. That is the core of this small business marketing tip, brands don't make you money, customers do.

What could they have done differently? What would you have done, particularly if you had some real creative ad folks in front of you doing a big sell job? Would you select this type of ad or another type of small business marketing tool that you could spend your money on? For one thing, you would focus more on the product instead of the production. For another, you would want to adda special offer with a deadline to buy the phone or direct consumers to a Web site to download the video and a special offer coupon.

What if they had a toll free number, 1-800-MeatLoaf, to call and get a special offer and find out how to download the song to iTunes or even a ring-tone? The marketing folks could track response and the ROI on the ad.

But instead, the focus was all on creativity and entertainment. I bet the ad will even win an award but I still think an ad should be written to sell your products now, not build a brand or win awards. My guess is that you can't afford Meat Loaf in your ads but remember, when you do advertise, remember it's about making money, not building your brand.

Brands don't put food on the table, sales do. When you spend money on marketing, you should work with someone who's goal is to make you money, not just earn a commission by selling you creativity and air time.

For a small business marketing tool, go ahead and think about branding. However, make the strength of your brand be a result of your reputation of providing phenomenal products and services. Build your brand using marketing that creates sales and leads. It is just as costlyto get your name out there with a compelling offer and reason for a client to buy from you now as it is to just get your name out there with no results for your investment.

The bottom line difference is the ROI. The Meat Loaf commercial offers no way to measure the ROI and your small businesses can't afford to throw scarce marketing dollars up against the wall and guess at the ROI. It may seem obvious but the essence of this small business marketing tip is that your ads should deliver sales or leads. Any benefits beyond those are icing on the cake.

Here is a powerful small business marketing tip when it comes to a brand-building and that is to look at things from a different perspective: If your financial planner came to you with an idea to spend $10,000 on marketing as an investment, you'd think, "What will my return be?" because she is your financial planner.

Use the same standards when you are talking to marketing, advertising and media reps. Here is another small business marketing tip: Ask the question: "What is my projected return and how does it compare to other marketing investments?" If they tell you your return is x-thousands of impressions, ask them which impression will put money in your pocket? In the case of the Meat Loaf ad, there's an impression, but of what?

Are media ads one of your small business marketing tools? If so, make sure they make you money and that you can measure results. If the results are good, build on your success. If they are poor results, then make changes but don't fall into the trap of thinking it was a success because you got your name out there!

Here is the video, enjoy, learn and remember this small business marketing tip: Your advertising dollars should always be tracked and result in a sale, prospect or lead. Branding is a side benefit of your good ads, never let it be the purpose.