Would you wear someone else's underwear or lingerie? Would you sleep comfortably on a used mattress? Would you purchase one? I don't know about you... but actually getting cooties is a lot worse than the memory of some 6-year-old bully telling other first-graders that I have cooties....

For more on buying used instead of retail, see MSN Money's Liz Pulliam Weston's column 10 things you should never buy used: Saving money by surfing the internet for bargains is delightful, but you can take it too far.

It stands on its own. However, for me it got me thinking about how business people often shop marketing on the cheap, and in return get used, one-size-fits-all tired strategies and tactics.

Here is but one industry that stands out in using tired marketing strategies that just don't work in today's world: money businesses -- like insurance, banking, investing. As a group, they all lean toward the infamous in terms of employing marketing growth strategies. For example, an insurance company's marketing technoque is often a direct-mail piece that includes a form to complete and send in that results in savings compared to our current costs Of course, next year our rates soar, resulting in a short-term gain negated by a long-term loss.

Banks like letters, as well. But every bank only talks about itself and seldom mentions my needs, except in a laundry list of services. And investment companies always want me to make an appointment for a free review of my current investments or they invite me to a free lunch in exchange for a sales pitch. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Thanks for the meal, but when will you recognize that these marketing strategies fail to deliver ROI. While your investing tens of thousands in bad direct mail and wasted sales time, you could invest in an integrated plan that responds to your customer's wants, needs and desires creatively and in ways that make you special.

Instead, money businesses do the same things over and over and then return to the old standby of growth through merger and acquisition, a strategy with a long record of failure. If we can't grow from the inside/out, what makes us think that buying another company with the same failed marketing strategies will change our bottom lines?

Yet, a hundred years of bad marketing, mergers and acquisitions continue to this day. Wouldn't you think someone would suggest changing the way business growth is done? I mean their heads must be a bloody mess from banging them into brick walls.

On the other hand, there must be a payoff someplace. But what is it? I sense its security in never having to change.

Having been called to submit proposals to a number of money businesses, my conclusion is that they like the merry-go-round they are on. In every instance, the first thing I'm asked is, "What is your experience working with banks (insurance companies, investment businesses, etc.)?"

Yes, I have experience. But if the problem is a failed marketing plan, should that matter?

In fact, if they want new ideas, wouldn't they want to hire someone with no experience in the industry? After all, any of us who have ever served these businesses know that the best way to get the job is to create a proposal with the same ideas that didn't work in the past, and to offer them more cheaply than our competitors. What is our incentive to customize a plan that features both innovation and best practices?

A sidenote: Look, before you crush me, yes, some marketers are hired that have new ideas, I suspect. It's just that I have no evidence of that. Everyday I receive the same, old tired marketing ideas in my mailbox. Oh, and by the way, I no longer bid on jobs within that industry. I'd rather lose customers than compromise my efforts.

Another sidenote: Money businesses are not the only industries that buy used. So I don't mean to pick on them, but they serve as a good example of how not to outsource marketing.

Here's the bottom line: If what you are doing is creating unacceptable results, stop doing it. And if what you are doing resembles what your competitors do, stop doing it. And if you are buying used marketers who are happy to do it your way, stop doing it. And if you fear change, keep doing it the same way and just use the marketing firm you currently employ. But don't expect different results.

On the other hand, if you are unhappy with your sales and marketing results and you want to grow margins and your bottom line, stop buying used. Buy fresh, new and innovative. Or at least buy best practices that will be customized to make your business stand out from the crowd.

In short, buy used and old, you risk getting cooties. Buy new and different, all you risk getting is ROI.