An old, successful investor once expressed his buying philosophy in his stock picks. He stated that nine times out of ten he loses on picking winners. These nine stocks give him a loss or become duds, if he could manage a neutral outcome, in his portfolio. Then with a gleam in his eyes he stated, “But the tenth stock, it more than makes up for the others.”

He called it his Rule of Ten.

Marketing is much the same way. There are a multitude of options to communicate a message in any given market. Standard efforts often include display, radio, outreach, search, social and video. Typically, buyers want more than one of them to drive a successful marketing effort.  But, which ones?

There is a lot of buzz about online offerings, to include banner ads, search and advertising on mobile devices. There is opportunity there, but is that all a business needs?  Does video, including cable and satellite, have a place? Are newspapers and print still useful? Should a business participate in a trade show.

Every business message is unique.  Connecting that message with the right audience, and then trying to grow the audience, is the real marketing work. Ensuring an effort is structured for the best chance of success is the craft.

Just like investments, many advertising buys are duds. They typically won’t hurt a business if they are bought, but they also won’t help a business realize a goal, too. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of a reasonable advertising effort won’t be known until it is fully explored. Working with an experienced marketing professional will help shorten this process, and likely save money.

Like the old pro investor, marketing efforts might take nine duds before a winner is discovered. Finding the winners in the field of advertisers is the work. When you have a winner, the bottom line will show.