Did you know that many of today’s marketing tactics date back to the 1800s? The limited time offer and the installment plan both date back to the nineteenth century. The free gift with purchase method dates to this time as well, when it was a favorite of newspaper owners: Buy their paper and receive a song. Publishers commissioned the composition of marches, such as Monroe Rosenfeld’s “The New York Herald March” or, more famously, “The Washington Post March,” sheet music for which would then be included with the purchased paper. The latter march was composed by John Philip Sousa in 1889 for the first awards ceremony of the Washington Post Amateur Authors Association, which the Post established to encourage young people to write. And if that meant their parents bought newspapers, so much the better.

Innovations in technology have allowed businesses to reach more people than ever before, yet many companies continue to rely on tried-and-true methods for gaining new customers and spreading brand awareness. Why? Because they work. How your message gets to your potential customers may change, but how you direct that messaging shouldn’t. When developing your marketing strategy, ask yourself these questions:

• Who are your potential customers?
• Where can you reach them?
• When potential customers do see your ad, what action do you want them to take? And how?

If all of this makes your head spin faster than an Edison phonograph cylinder and you’re not sure where to start, then contact the innovative folks at Impact Marketing today at 319-232-4332 or ImpactMT.com.

(And if you’d like to hear “The New York Herald March,” you can check it out here!)

Sources:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/incunabula2.php
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/heres-the-story-behind-sousas-famous-washington-post-march/2014/06/14/c804553e-f23b-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html
https://coschedule.com/blog/marketing-basics-101-guide/
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?nq=1&query_type=call_number&query=10480