When most business owners talk about marketing, what they're really talking about is advertising. Facebook ads, newspaper ads, Google, radio, billboards, direct mail, sponsorships and social media all get thrown into the marketing bucket. Those things are certainly part of marketing, but they're only one piece of a much bigger picture. Advertising is how you get a message in front of people. Marketing starts much earlier, with figuring out who those people are, what they need, what you're going to offer them and why they should choose you.

Think about a new restaurant opening in town. Before it spends a dollar advertising, dozens of marketing decisions have already been made. What type of restaurant is it? Who is it designed for? What will the menu look like? What will meals cost? Is it fast and convenient or somewhere people spend two hours over dinner? What does the building look like? What's the name? How will employees interact with customers? What makes someone tell a friend they need to try it? All of those decisions affect whether the advertising eventually works.

The same applies to almost every business. Before asking where you should advertise, ask what you're trying to accomplish. Are you trying to attract new customers? Get existing customers to buy more frequently? Introduce a new service? Enter a new market? Recruit employees? Build awareness so people think of you six months from now when they finally need what you sell? Each goal may require a completely different approach….READ MORE….