The Reality of Marketing

• Marketing requires Money and/or Time
  • The more of one you contribute, the less of the other you will have to contribute
• Marketing is useless without goals, and results measurement against those goals

Marketing your firm doesn’t just “happen”, not if you’re going to be effective at it.  You need to identify goals, develop a strategy (based on the goals, the market, the industry, consumer knowledge and your available budget), plan the most cost-efficient and effective ways to implement that strategy, and put in place methods of tracking and analyzing the results of your marketing strategies.

Those that refuse to “get out from behind the counter” or “get out from behind the desk” and expect customers just to show up are doomed to find themselves in that large percentage of small businesses that fail.  You can avoid this by analyzing your business to determine who are your most profitable ‘types’ of customers, conduct research on your market area to determine where similar ‘types’ of customers can be located, identify the best methods of reaching those ‘types’ of customers, and then using that information to implement strategies designed to attract those customers to your business.

The above tasks can be conducted independently by small business owners who will put in the time necessary, or they can bring in outside consultants to assist with parts of it or all of it.  Remember – the more time you invest, the less money you have to invest!  Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive – especially today with the many new resources being provided by social media and mobile technology – but it still requires work to put the marketing in place in a way that will be effective.

Be a smart business owner – be realistic about the resources (time and/or money) that are needed to market your business effectively.  If you’re convinced that you just can’t put in the time yourself, please contact us at Strategic Growth Concepts to assist you.  We can be reached via our website or via email at info@StrategicGrowthConcepts.com to schedule an appointment for a FREE consultation.