ADVERTISING, PROMOTION & MARKETING

I've been struck by the glut of advertising coming my way.
Spam and junk mail are full of it, television is full of
it, even magazines seem to have more. And, I don't buy it.
I've often written that businesses cannot "advertise their
way to success." Of course there is a time and place for
advertising. You have to let people know you exist, and you
need to make a splash with new products or new services.
Advertising is a good thing. But you probably can't buy
enough to build a business on it.
And promotion, particularly self-promotion, has a similar
limitation. Obviously, if you believe in a product or
service, you must tell people about it and invite them to
buy. You owe that to yourself, and to customers who need
and want your service. Promotion has its place.
But in the end, marketing is a different animal. Marketing
is about your reputation. It's about customer satisfaction
and retention. It's about your relationships. Marketing is
about letting people know who you are, what you do and what
you offer. (Never keep yourself a secret! There is no
advantage in being shy!) Marketing is about YOU more than
your product or service. It's about your reputation, your
level of responsibility and your follow-through.
In the end, most marketing is free, in that it comes from
being who you are and doing what you do, to the best of
your ability. 
Many small businesses would be far ahead to scrap their
advertising budget entirely and invest the money in
themselves, their skills, the quality of their products,
and their relationships.