It’s surprising how many company owners and managers we talk to who admit to us that they don’t do any marketing, or that if they do it’s haphazard at best. When we ask them why, their responses usually have to do with limited time or budget, or not knowing where to start.
Every once in a while we’ll meet a business owner who doesn’t think he or she needs any type of marketing, especially if their business is finding success. However, what these folks often don’t know is that with marketing, they could be even more successful than they are now. Additionally, marketing can help maintain current success, and help businesses navigate the ever-changing market landscape around them.
Marketing is About Relationships and Trust
At its core, marketing is about building relationships with people who are interested in purchasing or using a business’s products or services. If that relationship breaks down, those people will go somewhere else. And in most industries, there is no shortage of competitors.
Additionally, strong marketing builds trust among customers and audiences for a company and brand. However, this is only true when companies abide by marketing best practices and provide reliable, honest information in their marketing.
Marketing helps business leaders find the people who most need their products or services, and communicate to those people why they should select their company over the competition. But it’s not just a one-way street. Marketing, when done correctly, can provide valuable information to help a company grow and succeed for many years and decades to come.
Yes, Your Business Needs Marketing
So ultimately, yes, your company should be doing marketing. However, that doesn’t mean you should just start throwing money into billboards, social media, and brochures willy-nilly. Instead, you need to start with a well-researched and devised plan that will properly guide your marketing efforts so you’re getting the best results for the effort or capital you put in.
That plan will have many parts, but they will all work together to help find the most successful approach to marketing for your business. There will almost definitely be a learning curve and period of trial and error where you discover marketing methods that don’t work, but with a plan in place, you’ll be able to make adjustments and scrap anything that’s not providing a healthy return. On the flip side, you’ll also discover the aspects of your marketing that are successful, and can expand those as needed to enhance your results.
The Right Plan for Your Business
With the right marketing plan in place, you’ll be able to find the best opportunities to promote your products and services to the right audiences who are anxious to purchase and use them. Additionally, you’ll have a working knowledge of the market landscape and your competitors, which will give you the competitive edge among current and potential customers. And finally, your plan will provide you a road map that will guide your efforts toward growth and success for many years to come, giving you long-term confidence in your business efforts.
When it comes to doing marketing, you basically have three options available:
- Work with a marketing agency or individual with the right marketing skills and experience
- Hire a marketing specialist in-house to handle all your marketing needs
- Let your sister’s friend’s nephew do it for you since he is always browsing on Facebook
Naturally, you’ll want to avoid #3, though you’d be surprised how many companies end up choosing that option. Concerning #1 and #2, ultimately, that’s up to you and your business needs. For most small businesses, working with an agency will often produce the best results, as it saves on overhead and you’ll receive the help of a full marketing team instead of just a single person. Even many large companies with in-house marketing teams will outsource some aspects of their marketing to agencies when they need a little support. Ultimately, the choice is yours, but whatever you decide, we recommend it be in the form of more marketing, not less.
If you’re interested in learning more about how marketing can benefit your business, contact Web International now at 501-372-0393.
