There’s always got to be 7 marketing vehicles, at any given time, for your business.  If you can name 7, you’re doing well.  I’ve come  up with this marketing theory and here’s my rules and reasons…

1. an ad or article in any publication is considered 1 of the 7

2. 2 ads in one magazine is still considered 1 of the 7 because people tend to at least skim the entire magazine, you really only need 1 ad per magazine

3. 2 ads in a newspaper are considered 2 of the 7 as long as they are in different sections of th paper, this is because often people throw away entire sections of the news without even a glance

4. ALL free advertising is considered 1 of the 7.  Even if you have free listings on every ‘yellowpages.com’  type website in the country it’s still 1 of the 7 because it is free.

5. you should have as many free ads or listings as possible, there are many internet companies who list for free, make sure you’re on all of them and that you optimize them as best you can (with keywords, your email etc)

6. at least 2 of the 7 should be marketing vehicles directed towards existing clients, like a company newsletter with new services offered, or a mailing or emailer reminding customers of what you do or what they might not remembered you do

7. if you’re in the entertainment business you must have 1 of the 7 as a street team to hand out flyers and put up posters

here’s a list of ways to complete your 7:

attending networking meetings on a weekly or at least monthly basis, handing out flyers, news ads, magazine ads, yellow pages in print, google adwords, a website with optimization, direct mailing 2 or more times per year, e mail blasts, printed and mailed newsletters, billboards, bus ads, local mini billboard ads like at ball fields, sponsoring an event, exhibiting at a trade show