random acts of marketingQUESTION: How can you grow your business exponentially in 2010?

ANSWER: Eliminate the RAMMIES in your BIZ and MARKETING!

So what is a RAMMIE?

RAM and RAMMIES as defined by FRUiTZOOM:

RAM = RANDOM ACT of MARKETING
-An attempt to grow market share, increase brand awareness, drive revenue or other business benefit that is NOT integrated, can not be easily measured or justified and does not integrate with other marketing and biz tactics.

RAMMIES = Multiple RANDOM ACTS of MARKETING
-Multiple RAMS which often lead to wasted investment, little to no benefit in the form of brand awareness, revenue and often lead to lay off, market share loss, gray hairs, stress, sleepless nights, mass consumption of chocolate or other high fat foods that does nothing but increase your bottom half or worse.

We have all done them, seen them fail and regretted them…. the RAM.  It may start out as a simple ad, an email blast, a Twitter Tweet, Facebook post, event flyer, website without proper research or development.

The biggest myth in marketing is thinking all the “little things you do” are okay “not to do it right”.  What if you could add up all the time, effort and money spent on the little “I just need to get it done, I'll fix it next time” projects? Would you want to see the number? Could you share the return on investment with shareholders, potential investors, your boss, or even your dog? Chances are not!

Three heads in the sandHow to spot a RAM:
-It has no measurable Return on Ivestment (ROI)
-There is no plan.
-It is not integrated with other projects, plans and activities.
-The creative does not match your brand, your website or any other material you own.
-You are not 100% proud to share it with your dog or grandma let alone your target customers.
-It starts to take on a life of it's own.
-You start “borrowing” money from an already funded integrated budget or plan to fund the “little RAM”…. this is DANGEROUS!

YOU are the ONLY ONE who can STOP THE RAMMIES in your business!

QUESTION: Why do you need to stop the RAMs?
ANSWER: RAMS will NOT grow your business!

RAMS will often times hurt you more than they help you.
-Dillutes Brand (if every marketing communication piece looks, smells and feels different, you are hurting your brand more than you are helping)
-Because RAMs are usually not based upon a plan with goals and objectives, there is no measurable or documented ROI. This is the #1 reason why you should stop the RAMs in 2010!

Often times RAMs actually “feel good”.  You get to cross something off the list, share it with the CEO, your partner or your investment partner that you completed a project.  However, be careful as what are you going to do in 30-90 days when they ask you what the Return On the Investment was? Chances are you won't be able to answer as you didn't set goals or metrics. Bingo… you just completed a RAM.

Yes, RAMs can usually be done quicker than better planned and integrated marketing.  The question to ask yourself is “Do I really need to accomplish all the RAMS I have decided I must do”?  The answer is NO! Instead of wasting cycles, budget and time on RAMs, take out your pen in 2010 and write your integrated marketing plan.  Focus on the BIG things that are measurable, sustainable, will increase brand awareness, increase market share and provide a positive ROI!

I know small biz owners are thinking “whatever, this lady comes from corporate and she is use to working with lots of $$”.  WRONG!  Although I worked in corporate I worked on very tight budgets, little to no resource and deadlines that were crazier than 20 monkeys in banana cars.

The truth is you can accomplish more with less if you focus.  Take the time to write the plan, connect the dots of the different projects, develop the message platform that flows from your social media and networking platforms to customer collateral to web, to email to sales presentation to biz cards. Your BRAND is everything about you and it should be the same regardless of the medium. Check out this video and post I wrote on BRAND and CONVERSATION. Great food for thought as you get ready to ZOOM in 2010.

Create once, use many! If you build and execute the integrated plan you will begin to develop a platform that can be leveraged for 18-24+ months! Then, each time you need to launch a RAM email blast for the CEO, it isn't so RAMMIE.  You can tap into your integrated plan which should include an integrated message platform and bang the RAM email out in minutes with a measurable ROI!

Trust me, if you do this your ROI will be exponential.  Yes, it may take you an extra 2-4 weeks to write your plan.  However, every dollar you spend can return a higher investment. All of the RAMs add up to big bucks! Spend your bucks on something other than RAMs PLEASE!!!!

If you want help with eliminating the RAMs from your life in 2010 we can help.  Join our email subscription as I will be sharing some of our special RAM-FREE sauce for integrated marketing in 2010.  It will include templates, plans, messaging processes and more.

Jan 1 we will even kick off a 30 day development program for the RAM addicts.  It will include a daily email with tips and tricks for a better integrated biz in 2010!