This is the second of a “back to basics” review series  of the marketing process.  For series introduction, see 4/5 post

Now that your multi-element marketing plan is in place, you need to take it on the road.  The question is: where to?  

Allocating marketing dollars is one equation everyone struggles with at some point.  As one famous ad man quipped:  “Half of all advertising spending is wasted.  The key is knowing which half.”

We were gratified for the recent opinion of a blogmaster (those who write these for a living:  the easy life!) that echoed what we wrote about on 11/11 and then again on 3/10 about…fishing.  Daniel Scocco (daniel@dailyblogtips.com) guest-posted on Copyblogger, and we paraphrase that here because it is worth repeating…ad nauseum:

Go where the fish are!

What is the most important factor you need to have if you want to go fishing?
Most people will say the fishing rod. Others will say the bait, or a boat. Interestingly enough, they are all wrong.  The most important element of the equation is the presence of lots of fish.  If you have a lake full of fish but don’t have a fishing rod or bait, you can probably still improvise something that would let you enjoy a fish dinner tonight.  But no matter how great your bait or how cutting-edge your equipment, if there aren’t any fish, there’s no fish dinner…That means…[you need to] target known customers willing to spend money.