You’ve no doubt heard of the KISS principle: “Keep it simple, stupid.” Or as I like to say… “keep it simple, silly”.

KISS has been around the block several times. In fact, it was a design principle observed by the US Navy in the 1960s.

The phrase was coined by aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson. It’s good to note that Johnson was the lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works (creators of the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 spy planes).

Although the acronym has been used primarily by the US military, namely the US Navy and the US Air Force, it is also used by civilians, businesses, and many other groups.

Heck, I bet you’ve used it a few times yourself.

We all tend to overcomplicate things, myself included.

But I prefer simple any day and twice on Sunday. When tackling any problem, my number one rule is to start with the basics first (is it on? is the lamp plugged into the outlet?)

And you’ll be surprised how effective the simple way of doing things can be. After all, you can always complicate things later if you want.

You’ll be pleased to know that “simple” works in marketing your business too! Truth be told, keeping it simple has gotten me very, very far in marketing my business.

Let me explain…

The three pillars of good marketing

WELL. We’re going to break this down into, you know, lay terms. You can easily and simply market any product or service by looking at the 3 Pillars of Marketing.

But before I get into the details, I have to give credit where credit is due. While I’d love to think I’m some marketing and advertising genius, truth be told, I’m just scratching the surface here.

What I have learned came from the true geniuses of the game. The guys who figured it out and have been in the marketing trenches for decades.

With that said, what you’re about to learn comes from Dan Kennedy’s marketing. I highly recommend you get your hands on any book, show, or live event that he hosts. It is nothing less than pure gold.

WELL. On with the show. The pillars of good marketing are:

Message

market

Media

Let’s talk briefly about each one.

Pillar 1. Message. This is the “what” you tell your prospects or customers. It is the communication part of the good marketing equation. If you get it wrong, your efforts won’t necessarily fail, but they will suffer greatly in terms of results and sales.

Keep in mind that even if you have a great message and you pitch it to the wrong market, it will fall on deaf ears. And you’re wasting marketing bullets…time, money, and other resources.

Pillar 2. Market. He is the “who” you want to sell to. This is the group of people most likely to be interested and willing to buy your stuff. These are the prospects you are contacting and who will receive your sales messages (sales letters, print ads, landing pages, etc.)

So your mission is to match your message to the right market using the right media.

As you know, privacy is essentially dead these days. Therefore, obtaining the names and addresses of almost any target market is a fairly simple process.

Mailing lists come in all shapes and sizes today. If you know what market you want to go to, chances are you’ll find a listing. It’s just a matter of contacting a listing broker and describing who you’re looking for.

For example, if you’re looking for people who are at least 7 feet tall, drive a BMW, live in South Carolina, and subscribe to Psychology Today, you can get that list. It may not be a very big list, but it still exists.

Pillar 3. Media. This is the delivery system. It is the vehicle in which your message travels. Think: magazines, newspapers, newsletters, social networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the list seems endless.

The best way to select which media to use starts with the market. Are you targeting people over 65? It is very likely that they do not use social networks as their main medium.

Yes, they may very well have a Facebook account, but this is not their primary means of communicating or keeping in touch with others.

They read the local newspaper and use their cell phone regularly. They probably listen to the radio and watch TV.

But the only way to really know is to ask your customers and prospects.

How to target your market

A popular way business owners use to target their market is by geographic location.

With geographic marketing, you choose your market based on a specific location, for example, businesses within a 10-mile radius. This is a very simple way to choose your targets, but it’s like dropping flyers from an airplane and hoping one lands with the right person.

Yes, a bit of an overkill, but with a few simple tweaks, you can make your geographic marketing more effective. And you can do this using…

… Demographic orientation. Demographic targeting is selecting people by age, gender, how much money they have, whether they are conservative or liberal, or what religion they are, single or married, etc.

Next, you have the psychographics. Psychographics deals with the behavior, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles of clients. It is useful when segmenting your market. This can be very powerful (and effective). Furthermore, it allows you to personalize your marketing messages based on the market segment you are targeting.

Hey, you could combine all three. And many of the cloud-based programs, like Adobe Marketing Cloud, Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketing 360, and more, do just that. You can also check out some of the open source solutions.

Again, you don’t have to be all “techie”, just make sure you have details like their contact information and keep careful track of how much they spend, what they buy and how often. Simple with Excel.

Of course, you could go a long way into this topic, but keeping the “simple” approach, suffice it to say, keep good client lists, learn what your prospects want, and become the “go to” company that meets their needs. .

So the next time you start a new marketing campaign, consider the ideas presented here. If you are tired of throwing a lot of money down the toilet from advertising and want more profitable results, I encourage you to give me a call. Have questions about this article or would like to see a topic covered? Again, just shoot me a line. I am always happy to help.

Yours for further response,

Edition E. Massey