Why Small Businesses Fail in Marketing
I often speak with groups of small business owners, and I always hear the same sentiment: that marketers are irrelevant or that marketing is no longer relevant.
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| 3 Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail in Marketing |
I've heard various arguments against the significance of marketing.
- All of my business comes from recommendations.
- I developed my company without spending money on marketing.
- Marketing is all about luck, so why spend money on it?
Oh, how terribly wrong they are! Here are the main three reasons:
1. Their conception of marketing is incorrect
When business owners tell me that marketing doesn't matter, they typically have a completely different understanding of what marketing is than those who understand how marketing contributes to business goals by allowing you to charge the highest possible prices for your services and products.
Prior to proposing a series of sales-boosting tactics, marketing entails investing time in establishing a solid foundation based on strategy. Unless and until the company discovers a way to alter the context in which their ideal customer perceives what they do and then becomes the obvious choice provider, their marketing efforts will never gain traction or yield a positive return.
You must have the ability to penetrate the internal dialogue of your consumers. Or, to put it another way, to be able to answer the customer's most pressing question at precisely the right time.
So, how do you proceed? Every potential consumer has a discussion in their head that focuses on two fundamental topics. There is a problem they have that they do not want, and there is a desired outcome that they do not possess.
Those who frequently misunderstand marketing believe that it consists solely of advertising campaigns, brochures, flyers, a website, email marketing, SEO, trade shows, social media, and so on. These are your marketing strategies' implementation strategies. I would say that marketing is the basis of company strategy because it involves analyzing the existing consumer, appealing to their concerns, objectives, and ambitions, and then developing goods and services that the ideal customer is willing to purchase from a brand they know, like, and trust.
2. They feel that either they or their coworker can complete the task
In the “do it yourself” world of small companies (or even large corporations), it may be difficult to determine which areas need outside assistance. A business may be able to set up a newsletter, add plugins to WordPress, write a Facebook or LinkedIn post, and awkwardly create header graphics, but you need someone who is trained, experienced, and skilled at looking strategically and holistically at the market, understanding the customer, and then creating unique opportunities based on this knowledge.
Consider for a moment: simply because you own a calculator and Excel, does that make you an accountant? If you have a ruler and a pencil and have seen Grand Designs, does that qualify you as an architect? If you routinely post to your Facebook and Instagram accounts, does that make you a social media expert?
Why do small companies imagine that purchasing a Mac and some software would transform them into designers, marketers, and communications specialists?
It must be directed by a strategic marketer who can design an integrated marketing strategy. Can you or a coworker do this task? In certain instances, yes. Those that can, however, are more likely to come from a marketing or consulting background, where they have expertise in designing and executing a growth plan.
If you run a small company, you need someone with a process-oriented, simplified, consistent, and repeatable methodology. First, they will do in-depth research and study your firm, the market dynamics, and uncover shifts, trends, and changes. From there, the strategic marketer will be able to present the different elements of your marketing plan in a logical order of how you should construct, update, or revise them and identify the key areas you should be focusing on, such as lead generation, lead conversion, transaction growth, and price changes.
3. They employ ineffective marketing assistance
Marketing strategy, marketing techniques, and marketing execution are vastly misunderstood.
There is a distinction between strategic capability, creative capability, and exceptional capability.
Small company owners should not engage a strategic marketing coach or firm to generate innovative graphics and headers, nor should they hire an advertising or graphic design firm to manage marketing strategy. When a small business's greatest requirement is a plan for sustained development, it is not necessary to employ a consultant or agency with excellent marketing execution skills. You may get more attention, but your outcomes will not improve.