I get that presidential candidates and people vying for spots in the government need to create campaigns and advertisements to get elected, but I have to say, I was rather surprised to see the US Census’ ad campaigns. Starting on January 14th, the US Census started running a series of advertisements on both TV and through twitter. The first ad I saw was fairly normal, so I didn’t really think much of it. It simply made the point that it would be helpful if people could send them in – and the benefit for the government if we all cooperated. It was a clear and concise ad, but I didn’t really get why they needed it. 20 years ago, there were no census ads, there wasn’t huge amounts of money spent on convincing us to do the census, and yet we still figured out how to send it in and get the census done.

But, I still gave them credit that the ad made sense, and wasn’t poorly done. That is until I saw the next series of advertisements…

Really?? Singing and rapping to possibly the worst made up marketing song ever? About a government census? Now I am completely lost, and can no longer give them the benefit of the doubt.

Were these ads really necessary or is it just another example of the government spending money they don’t have?

Let’s start with a quick list of the most popular marketing tools:

• Print marketing in magazines and newspapers
• Television ads
• Radio ads
• Social networks (twitter, facebook, linkedin, youtube)
• Blogging
• Web (adwords, banner ads, etc)
• Direct mail
• Cold calling

The marketing tools you should use are directly correlated to what you want your marketing to do. By this I mean, if you want millions of people to see it, you need to make a statement and money is no object, TV ads may be for you. If you have a budget and need people to understand more about you, to learn before they buy, blogging and social media are probably a better solution. If your services only benefit a very specific group of individuals, combining direct mail and cold calling may be just what the marketing doctor ordered.

Today, we want you to take a step back from your busy schedule for just 5 minutes and answer these 5 questions about your marketing strategy.

1. Which tools do you use to market your business?
2. Are those the most appropriate for your business strategy or are those just the tools you’ve been using?
3. Are they bringing you more business than you can handle?
4. Do you wonder what else is out there to market your business?
5. Should you choose a new strategy or tools?

Don’t forget to share your results in the comments!