I recently had the pleasure of hearing IPED Channel Intelligence Director Ryan Morris speak on the topic of marketing. Ryan is a fast-moving, high-energy speaker with a ton of great marketing advice. One of the topics that impacted me the most was his list of “5 Marketing Musts”:

1. Must be customer-focused. (It should be about them, not us!)
2. Must be measurable. (If you can’t count it, don’t do it!)
3. Must be targeted. (Be specific - spend your limited marketing funds on the customers you really want.)
4. Must be repeated. (If you can only afford to do it once, don’t do it at all!)
5. Must be integrated. (Deliver one consistent message across multiple diverse touch points.)

When was the last time you delivered a multi-touch, customer-focused marketing campaign to a targeted group of perfect prospects utilizing multiple media types with measurable results?

Never, you say?

If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t either. But I have thought a lot about ways to accomplish all 5 “musts” without spending a lot of money. The Internet is the key. For some perspective, let’s take a look at a test case of folks that need to make a bunch of “sales” in a hurry without spending a lot of money. Yes, let’s take a look at the U.S. presidential candidates.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Presidential candidates have a TON of money to spend, right? Not really. If you think about it, you’ll realize that the amount that they have to spend per prospect, or vote, is quite low. After all, their “perfect customers” are, um, Americans. All 300 million of us. According to the latest campaign spending figures, that means that the top four candidates still running (Clinton, McCain, Obama, and Paul), have so far only spent between 10 cents (Paul) and 52 cents (Clinton) per prospect. Compared to what you can afford to spend on a perfect prospect, the presidential candidates are working at a serious disadvantage!

As I mentioned, the Internet is the key. Thanks to social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube, it’s surprisingly easy to hit all 5 of Ryan Morris’ “Marketing Musts”. All that’s required is a strong message, some creative thinking, and the patience to learn how to use a handful of your favorite social networking sites. With a little effort, in other words, you can have the marketing power of a presidential candidate at a fraction of the price!