It eludes me why so many people put marketing last in their business planning process. Regardless of whether you’re just starting out, or have a fairly established business already, marketing is instrumental in achieving business growth. 

Yes, ten years ago businesses could get away without doing much (if any) marketing, place an odd ad in the newspaper and get some business. It is not effective anymore. The evolution of digital marketing and social media has completely changed how customers buy, and businesses have to learn and adapt to customer wants. We are a society driven by digital technology. Digital marketing has an incredible influence on people’s interactions, work, purchases, and life habits.

Marketing is all about maximising profitability and sales, so marketing is an important part of generating profit while sustaining your business. Without a marketing strategy and plan, your company's growth will slow, and could even stall.

Brand awareness

Did you know that increased exposure is the most commonly cited advantage of using social media for marketing purposes among global industry professionals? (Statista, 2019) 

This applies to other aspects of marketing too. The more consistent you are with your marketing the larger audience you will reach. Creating brand awareness takes time and effort. It is easiest to achieve when you have a well-thought-out marketing strategy and plan which aligns with your overall business goals. 

Get found by and connect with your customers 

Social media marketing is a great way to connect with and learn more about your customers. the use of social media and email marketing will make your brand more approachable and you can use these platforms to build relationships with your audience. The number of global social media users is expected to reach almost 3.43 billion in 2023 (Statista, 2020), so your business needs to be where your customers spend most of their time. 

Get valuable data and insights 

With the use of various marketing tools such as Google Analytics and statistics from native social media apps, you will be able to gather data about your customers. It can be an excellent way to understand which marketing tactics they are responding to and which ones are not performing as well. If you’d like to take it a step further, you can use email automation to plan your customer journey and create email nurturing sequences. You can also use your mailing list to send out surveys or google analytics to understand which website content is performing well and which is not so much. 

Essentially, implementing a marketing strategy will armor you with knowledge and an in-depth understanding of your customers, their likes, and dislikes.

Build trust and authority 

A brand is much like a person’s reputation; you ‘earn your stripes’. If you consistently show up, give value, and help your customers, you will reap the rewards in the long run. Building authority in any industry takes time and effort. But it is absolutely worth that investment. Trust and authority cannot be bought by placing adverts. You need to have a long-term plan and vision on how you will earn trust and build credibility. 

Discover what works and what doesn't 

As I mentioned earlier, digital marketing is in a constant state of flux and is continuing to evolve. Also, bear in mind that every business is different, therefore you will need to experiment and try out new things. Only by trial and error, you will know what works specifically for YOUR business and what your customers engage with the most. 

More leads and sales 

Growing the bottom line is the ultimate goal for most businesses. According to Hubspot 2020 marketing survey, over 75% of marketers are reporting on how their campaigns are directly influencing revenue. By finding the right marketing mix for your organisation, you will be able to generate more and better leads, spend less on advertising and build a sustainable, well-respected business. 

Improved cost-effectiveness and ability to measure ROI

Digital marketing is superior compared to traditional marketing when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck. Not only it is cheaper, but it is much easier to track your return on investment. You can target the exact audiences that are relevant to your business, thus not wasting your marketing budget on people who are not relevant, and tracking the digital ads can be tracked via analytics tools. There’s an array of options out there to promote your business only with superior results compared to traditional advertising. 

Your competitors are doing marketing 

This is a pretty obvious one. The internet is absolutely overloaded with content and it can become increasingly difficult for your customers to find you if you are not actively marketing your business online. 

Whilst your business might be doing well without doing much of the marketing activity right now, your competitors are doing all of the hard work and are building relationships with your potential customers online. If you don’t have a clear, goal-driven marketing strategy that you can start implementing, you will fall behind.

Conclusion

To recap - the 8 Reasons why you need to market your business: 

1. Brand awareness

2. Get found by and connect with your customers

3. Get valuable data and insights

4. Build trust and authority

5. Discover what works and what doesn't 

6. More leads and sales

7. Improved cost-effectiveness and ability to measure ROI

8. Your competitors are doing marketing

These are just some of the reasons showcasing why marketing activity is instrumental to the success and growth of your business.
And no, you do not have to have a huge business to have a strategy - even as s small sole trader business you could create a very succinct but affective strategy . Also, you do not need to do everything that you can think of! It is far more effective to do less, but do it well. For example going ONE social media platform, but absolutely ace your performance on it, or have a monthly newsletter, but do not worry about setting up complicated email nurturing funnels or email workflows. 

Do what is right for YOUR business and your customers. Create a strategy that will not overwhelm you and you will be able to stay consistent. By doing so, you will feel less pressured and will gain clarity about your goals and an easy-to-follow roadmap to success. 

Next time, before you say ‘I can’t afford to…” think if you can afford to NOT to market your business. 

If you are starting up your business or have an existing business, but feel overwhelmed by a prospect of creating a marketing strategy - book your free 30-minute discovery call with me and tell me about the challenges that you are facing right now.