02.03.10
What Marketing Can Do For You
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What Marketing Can Do For You (And No, the Answer Isn’t Everything)
While marketing is as close to a magic button we have (think the Staples Easy Button) to transforming your business, it’s still not an actual magic button.
So I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can’t Do For You. We’ll start with the positive.
Over the years, I’ve had dealings with some business owners who have a rather skewed perception of marketing. They think you throw a few ads out there, get a couple of press releases printed and voila! You’re a big success.
Oh, if it only were that easy. (Although if it were, I probably wouldn’t have a job.)
But there’s no getting around that to have a successful business, you need a solid marketing plan.
So what CAN marketing do for you? Increase your business – no question about it. You need to be marketing if you want to grow your business.
However (and this is a really big however) marketing is NOT going to result in overnight success. Marketing is about slow growth, building on last week’s success and forgetting about last month’s failures. (Or what you THINK are failures. It’s not uncommon that a campaign you think is a dismal disappointment may be what caused the next campaign to take off.)
Marketing is about frequency — about your target market seeing your offer over and over again until they’re finally ready to buy. Without that very important frequency, your business will start to stagnate and eventually die.
Now that doesn’t mean you won’t have a major success with a campaign. Even a massive, amazing, unbelievable success. You’ll run one ad or be featured in an article and wham! You end up with more orders than you know what to do with. While that’s a great shot in the arm, it probably won’t last unless you keep building upon it. Eventually the orders will dry up and you’ll be back to where you were before.
Marketing is also about being consistent. This goes back to building on successes. Your customers need to see your message over and over again. This builds trust and credibility. Plus, your current customers will also respond to that frequency. Not only will they not “forget” about you and go to your competitor, but it will help build their trust in you as well.
Lastly, marketing is about working hard. There’s no getting around it. To be successful means putting in the time and energy to continually market yourself. (You can also pay someone to help you with it, but basically it comes down to someone somewhere has to put in the time to continually market you.)
If you remember nothing else, remember this: If you don’t implement your marketing strategies, nothing is going to happen.
That last sentence seems obvious, but again, I’m amazed at how many people I run into who aren’t willing to do the work. They talk about it, but when it actually comes down to doing something, they somehow never seem to get around to it.
One way to overcome that is to plan on doing one task or a little marketing every day. Then it doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming. Me, I make a commitment to do X number of marketing tasks a week, regardless of how much time that takes.
Marketing is a commitment. There’s no getting around it. If you have a business, then you have no choice but to make a commitment to marketing on a consistent basis until the day comes when you decide you don’t want a business anymore.
Cindy Schulson said,
February 3, 2010 at 4:15 pm UTC
Marketing can be a win-win if you focus on providing valuable information for your target market. Solo entrepreneurs often shy away from consistent marketing because they don’t feel comfortable with it.
But when you focus on providing value and building relationships with your target market, then marketing becomes natural, strategic and effective.
Thanks for the important reminder about making marketing an essential part of everybody’s business.
Karri Flatla said,
February 5, 2010 at 10:46 am UTC
“Marketing is a commitment.”
Amen!
Business owners sometimes forget that you can’t just “buy marketing.” Even when you hire an expert (copywriter, consultant, SEO, designer, etc.) you still ultimately “own” the process. No one can ENGAGE your market for you in a lasting, meaningful way.
Either you’re in or you’re not
Great post, Michele.
Cheers,
Karri
Karri Flatla´s last blog ..How Web Copywriting Can Get You More Than a Wink and a Slap