Buying or earning marketing power: Which route is more effective?

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As we prepare for Bill Caswell’s special Webinar this afternoon:  How to improve company performance through increased co-operation, my thoughts travel back two summers to my first Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) conference in Denver.  With my family tugging me away for other activities, I only had a day in the conference hall, and I took in four presentations.

Three were great.  They combined inspiration, ideas and resourcefulness.  (I especially remember enjoying Mel Lester’s observations.)  Alas, the fourth presentation on a topic that at the time seemed alluring (I forget it now) proved to be an utter disappointment.  The speakers were bland, boring, ill-prepared, and talked corporatespeak rather than real substance.  Then I noticed their business had paid to be a major sponsor at the conference and presumably, as part of the sponsorship arrangement, they had  been given a speakers’ spot.

With more speaking and presentation experience, I’ll win the opportunity to speak at SMPS events without paying sponsorship or even attendance fees and then, as I improve and gain more credentials, will earn speaking fees (and write more books which capture the ideas, win recognition and even more business.)

I paid my way to that conference (including the conference fees) despite hoping earlier on to be accepted as a presenter of a panel discussion on social networking topics (after all, this blog was then and is still the longest-running continuously maintained blog serving the AEC community).

Sigh.  Then a smile.  This year, I’ll attend again on my own dime.  I could pay for a coveted speakers’ spot with a generous conference sponsorship fee which would set me back several thousand dollars.  Or I could spend some time learning what works, who speaks well, writing and blogging about the experiences, so next year I can propose a topic and/or earn a coveted foundation white paper award and go on stage without paying a cent. This year, for sure, I’ll most likely avoid presentations where I see any correlation with sponsorship fees — no need to waste my time on speakers who paid for their speaking spots!  (Actually, I will plan quick previews of a couple of these paid presentations just to see how bad they are and validate my observations.  I expect I’ll be proven wrong at least once, but my prejudices are now firmly in place.)

Bill Caswell certainly appreciates these values about buying or earning recognition.  He earned my business by speaking at an Innovators Alliance meeting a few years ago as my business entered a steep decline, offering a genuine “results guaranteed or you pay nothing” offer (with no up-front fees).  I took it.  Last fall, I proposed he organize a Webinar which I would promote on a revenue-sharing arrangement.  The day of the event, technical glitches added to the seemingly low attendance suggested this would be our first and last Webinar.  But surprising things happened.  Bill’s presentation attracted additional business for both of us.  We discovered that speaking and giving Webinars has powerful marketing advantages far greater than the cost of putting on the presentation and the actual revenue achieved from it.  Accordingly we set out to find a solution to the technical problems and started planning our next Webinar.

We won’t get rich at the event, again, but will continue learning.  The work with Bill Caswell will help me prepare for my first Webinar in co-operation with Tim Klabunde and the Deisgn and Construction Network in July on Construction Marketing Ideas, correlated with the publication of Construction Marketing Ideas: Practical strategies and resources to attract and retain clients for your architectural, engineering or construction business.

This is a good opportunity to direct you to one of my more effective posts: RIMC:  The Construction Marketing Table, where I advocate that if you get three pillars of marketing success correct, you will undoubtedly succeed.  Combine effective relationships, consistency and intensity (or focus) in your marketing and you won’t need to spend much if any money.  If you are deficient in any of these areas, you can buy yourself into the game — but if all you have is money, you won’t have it for long unless you can get at least two of the three other elements right.

Here is the paradox which goes against the grain of self-interest.  (I earn 95 per cent of my money by selling advertising!) If you need to spend a small fortune on marketing and advertising to stay in business, you probably aren’t that good.  If you earn your reputation for quality, service, and high-value relationships, you will undoubtedly succeed.  But you have to earn your reputation:  It won’t come to you on a silver platter and you will need to work on delivering value and quality, one step at a time, with plenty of effort.

Once you’ve earned your reputation and then have a truly viable business, you can elect to become a serious and consistent advertiser:  Your marketing budget will push your business to the next level and, if monitor and measure your results, ensure your viability through most economic conditions.

These aren’t simple solutions and easy roads to travel. It took a year and a half from conception to completion to write my first book and only a few days after its publication to know that I had succeeded.  Readers are buying it, early reviews are positive and the actual sales are quite gratifying (the book is on track to reaching break-even well ahead of schedule.)

Here is a question for you:  Is it a wiser marketing expense to spend $49 on a relevant Webinar, $1,000 on conference fees for an event packed with competent speakers and resources (ignoring the paid sponsors!), $39.95 on a useful marketing book or should you pour $15,000 into an advertising campaign sold to you by a media sales rep who you think knows how to bring business your way?

You can find the answers by asking the right questions.  I believe a  little money invested in learning how to market effectively is a whole lot better spent than a lot of money wasted to buy your way to prominence.  But you won’t earn your way to success without effort and some persistence.  So I encourage you to invest $78.95 ($39.95 plus $49.00) today for 90 minutes of learning this afternoon and a few hours reading in the next couple of weeks.


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