On the far left, you have the online marketing strategies heavily geared toward lead generation - strategies like pay per click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), opt-in email marketing, etc.

On the far right, you have the online marketing strategies which tend to be thought of as better for branding (or, from our perspective, those that are simply ineffective as lead generating strategies!).

Sage Advice (not!)

Advertising sales reps (and people that have never spent their own money on advertising) typically pitch small service business owners on the power of advertising to increase branding and name recognition and the incredible value and long-term benefit this has for their company. They reference companies like McDonald's as proof that broad-based branding type advertising works.

Following this type of marketing advice is far more likely to result in you being out of business than it is going to transform your company into the next McDonald's! If you want to turn your small company into something larger than you, your son and a single truck, you need to focus your (limited) marketing dollars on marketing strategies that consistently produce cost-effective leads and new business opportunities.

The Marketing Reality

Branding and name recognition will be by word of mouth and referrals - built over time and as your company grows. Marketing tests that fail to produce quality or cost-effective leads can be chalked up to branding. Branding and name recognition is what you get when you don't get what you really wanted - new leads!

Make no mistake - we are not suggesting that there is no value in branding and name recognition. What we are suggesting is that making it the focus of ad campaigns early in your business is more likely to drive you out of business than it is to turn you into a business rock star.

As your company grows, and you have several concurrent marketing strategies consistently cranking out quality leads, you can start expanding your marketing efforts into the branding realm. However, you'll probably start to feel more like we do and focus your (precious) time turning the dials up on all of your lead-gen campaigns or trying to find new ones.

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