Mass media is dead. It shoots over the top of the intended audience, and with the advent of ad-skipping technologies like Tivo, most mass-media efforts are bringing back little in the way of measurable ROI. In 2006, for example, a large chain of restaurants increased its mass-media budget by more than $50 million, only to see sales decrease 6 percent over a 12-month period.

For growing businesses, the key to success is implementing a turnkey neighborhood integrated marketing communication strategy. This approach focuses on old-fashioned basics like rewarding people on their birthdays, welcoming new neighbors, marketing to potential customers at their office, and keeping the offer relevant. The magic happens when you focus on the right customer at the right time with the right offer. It’s not as hard as it seems. Consider these five tips:

1. Avoid marketing outside your local trading area. Typically a 3- to 5-mile radius is where the overwhelming majority of your business comes from. And with gas prices soaring, consumers are more reluctant than ever to drive outside their local area.

2. Avoid the allure of mass media. It’s no more than wallpaper or elevator music. If it’s so critical to growing a business, how come not a single advertising agency uses this tactic to promote itself?

3. Avoid marketing until you have perfected the customer experience within your own four walls. Why waste money on advertising if your employees are underperforming, or your bathrooms are dirty. Focus your attention on any internal issues, and once those are solved, market your business to your local area.

4. Don’t follow what big companies do. Follow what they did before they got big. Starbucks has never spent a dime on mass media, and McDonald’s originally focused on the local neighborhood that surrounded each restaurant. It’s those early practices that swept these companies through America, not television and radio.

5. Focus effort and energy on your top-line sales, not cutting from the bottom. In most business models a 2 percent increase in top-line sales has the same impact as a 10 percent reduction in costs. If you are already running lean and mean, cutting from the bottom just decreases the quality of the customer experience. Focus your energy on the right side of the equation.

— Brad Kent, president and CEO, Smartleads (smartleadsusa.com)

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