By Rich Harshaw

As you set out to learn how to improve your marketing so it gets more results every time you spend money, a quick analogy will probably help set the proper expectations. I'm sure you've seen those home remodeling shows on TV, haven't you? In 30 minutes they show you how to rip apart the old house and completely remodel into a beautiful new one. They take an arduous, time-consuming task like remodeling and make it look so simple that just about anyone could do it. Even people like me who don't know which end of a hammer to hold watch those shows and start to think, "man that looks pretty easy. It only took that guy like 6 minutes to pour that cement, frame the living room, and tile that bathroom. I could do that!"

Well, obviously, it's not always as easy as it looks. Getting from the "before" picture to the "after" picture takes a quite a bit of know how, and a lot of hard work. There's a big difference between knowing what it's supposed to look like and knowing how to make it look like that.

Here's the point: you're not going to be a marketing genius after reading a series of articles, listening to a few CDs, or attending a seminar. Our marketing system is composed of multiple steps that are generally worked on and implemented over the course of anywhere from a few weeks to several months or more depending on the size and complexity of the project....just like completely remodeling a 7,000 square foot house would take longer than laying new tile in a bathroom.

Each of the steps is multi-tiered and takes a lot of understanding and know-how to properly execute. We have spent thousands of hours perfecting this system to allow us to put your marketing together relatively quickly and easily. Our principal consultants all over the country are seasoned business professionals who are trained for 52 hours straight on how to implement this system for our clients, and who receive continual ongoing training on top of the experience they've gained working on their clients. I don't want anybody to be fooled into thinking that remodeling your house--or in this case, re-hauling your marketing program--is an easy process. It's not. It's easy to understand how it works, but it's not quite so easy to implement.

So the purpose of this series of articles is NOT to train you on every whit of what you need to know about marketing...instead, what I want to do in the time we have together is to educate you so you have a clear vision of what your marketing is supposed to look like...and just as importantly, what it's NOT supposed to look like. I want to show you the steps and the processes and the formulas and the strategies to make it work. And most of all, I want you to see how powerful what I have to teach you is and to allow you to comprehend what the possibilities are for your company....and what a significant advantage you will hold over your competitors when you do.

So to that end, let me give you brief overview of what we'll talk about in these articles, and then we'll get started.

First, we'll talk about what marketing is supposed to do and why most marketing doesn't do it. I'll explain to you exactly why everything you know about marketing and advertising is wrong.

After that we'll talk about creating strategic marketing messages and executing a tactical marketing program. What's the difference between strategic and tactical marketing? Well, strategic marketing has to do with what you say and how you say it. It's the content of your message and positioning of your brand, company, or product. When talking about strategic marketing, I'll go into great detail about what we call the Marketing Equation. The Marketing Equation is the backbone of the Monopolize System--it's essentially a roadmap to ensure you're always saying the right thing to the right people--every single time.

Your tactical marketing program, on the other hand, has to do with the execution of that strategic marketing plan as far as generating leads, placing media, and implementing a follow up system. We call the tactical marketing program "Franchising Your Sales System" because we show you how to systematize the entire process so that your marketing program is easy to implement and so it's always consistent.  We'll cover principles of lead generating, marketing tools, hopper systems, knock down lists, and master strategies. We'll also discuss what we call Maximizing and Optimizing your marketing program--which are some more advanced tactical execution strategies.

This distinction between strategic and tactical marketing is huge--and one you need to be acutely aware of anytime you start talking about your marketing. Many companies mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing, you're automatically talking about tactical marketing--placing ads, generating leads, sending out mailers, attending trade shows, implementing a follow up system, whatever. Tactical stuff. They fail to realize that the strategic side of the coin--what you say in your marketing and how you say it--is almost always MORE important than the marketing medium WHERE you say it, or in other words, where you tactically deploy that marketing.

If you fail to make this distinction, then you risk becoming jaded toward some forms of marketing and advertising that should be a part of your tactical plan, but that you'd be likely to eliminate because it they haven't worked for you in the past.... When results are less than optimal, the tendency is almost ALWAYS blame the marketing medium...the tactical part of the plan... without any regard for how good or bad the strategy behind that marketing piece was!

People often say things like, "We tried radio and it doesn't work for this kind of business." Or, "We sent 50,000 pieces of direct mail and only got back 16 orders... it doesn't work!" Well, maybe that's true. But just because it didn't work, don't assume that it won't work. Most people don't have the evaluation tools and the know how to judge whether a poor marketing result stems from poor strategy or the poor tactical execution. You'll be able to make those distinctions after listening to Monopolize Your Marketplace.

You'll see as we roll through this program that we devote the greatest majority of the time to discussing strategic marketing issues...teaching you how to innovate your business and powerfully communicate your unique advantages to your target market. 

You'll discover as you read these articles that regardless of the size of your company, regardless of how big or small you are, regardless of you annual marketing budget, the strategies will always roll out the same based on the same principles. On a tactical, implementation level, of course big companies have a lot more needs and require more expertise, but the strategies for a $1,000,000 two-man accounting firm would be the exact same as those for a $1 billion dollar multi-national accounting firm. Sound impossible? Stick with me. We're unique because we have expertise and consult on both strategic and tactical marketing issue like we talked about earlier.

We're looking for people to work with us who want their companies to be the best they can be... People who have such a passion for their customers and doing things right that they'll do whatever it takes to get good enough to deserve all the business. We're looking for people who can't stomach the thought of a customer doing business with a competitor. You know, if you strive for that kind of excellence, you'll automatically surpass 99% of your competitors. I'm telling you, they won't put in that kind of effort. They just won't and don't. It's up to you.

Hey, I feel that way. If you went to somebody else's marketing workshop, or read some other book on marketing, or, heaven forbid, hired another consulting firm to take your business to the next level, and I found out about it... yea, I'd be ripped! Not because I lost the business and the chance to make money, but because I know that there's not another book, seminar, or workshop, or consultant--anywhere, at any price--that will give you the results that Monopolize Your Marketplace can. I'd be upset if you wasted your money on anything less. I honestly believe that you would be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but me.

That might sound strong, but come on, I would hope you feel that way about what you're doing. I would hope that you would put that kind of effort into perfecting your craft so that it's worthy of the lion's share of the dollars in your industry. If you don't feel that way, and you're not willing to put in that kind of effort, then throw this program away right now and get ready to get snuffed out by someone who does feel that way. I guarantee you they're out there. Remember I said that with the right mindset you'd pass up 99% of your competitors? Well, there's one percent left out there that is trying to dominate the market, and I'm here to tell you, it's going to be a dogfight.

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© 2005 Rich Harshaw ∙ May Not Be Used Without Permission