Marketing should never be looked at as an expense. Over time, if marketing is costing your company money, then you need to rework your strategy. Marketing, by definition, is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services. This definition is not ambiguous. So often, small business owners seem to not fully understand the value of marketing. The vast majority of big businesses get it and in many cases, good marketing strategy is part of what made them big in the first place.
Marketing is an investment. Like all investments, you need to have a good understanding of how it works in order to make the most of it. No two marketing strategies are identical, but similar businesses often use similar strategies. If you need to rework or start a new strategy the best place to start your research is your competition. This is especially true if your competition is already well-established. Sign up for their email list and see what they are sending customers or potential customers. Look at their website. What is the most prominent thing on their homepage? Are they writing articles to attract potential customers? What types of articles are they writing? Do a Google search for terms that apply to your business. Is your competition advertising in pay-per-click ads for those terms? Where are they ranked in the search results?
Once you have an idea of how your competition is marketing, you can begin to craft your own marketing strategy. Start small. There are ways to market your company that are free, and it is best to start there and get your feet wet so that hopefully marketing never becomes an expense for you. Write a press release about a new product or service your company is offering. Send it to your local paper and see if they will publish it. Send it to your email list. Publish it on your website.
The free strategies will only get you so far though. Investing in penny stocks rarely creates a return on investment. You get what you pay for holds true in most things, and marketing is no exception. If you have a solid marketing strategy in place, make an investment. If not, a professional marketing company, like Active Web Group can help you craft one.
For more information on small business marketing, call us at 1-800-978-3417 or Contact Active Web Group and let us help you!
