Imagine you’re walking along one day in a park. You look down and see an envelope, which you pick up. It’s fine quality paper, with an embossed company logo on the back and full postage on the front. Impressive.
To your surprise, however, the envelope has nothing written on the front – no recipient’s name, no address. And you can tell, on closer inspection, that it also has no contents.
This envelope, I’m sorry to say, is like most small business marketing. All the investment is spent on the vehicle or marketing strategy, represented here by a nice, stamped envelope. This is like purchasing advertising, web sites, brochures, Chamber memberships and trade show booths.
But, what’s missing is a target market (address) and a message (letter inside the envelope). Who should get this envelope? What do you want them to know?

In marketing terms, this missing piece is a differentiated brand message stating who your product or services are for, and why they need to purchase from you as opposed to the [...]