Marketing your business. Some people love it – others struggle with it. But regardless of how we feel about the subject, every business owner needs a marketing budget.
But isn’t a marketing budget more of a luxury than a must-have? Actually, the opposite is true. We can’t afford not to market ourselves and our businesses. Here’s why:
Marketing Creates Customer Awareness
Chances are, if people have never heard of you or your business, you’re going to have a tough time selling your product or services. People have to know that your resources exist before they can purchase it.
But just telling people about your product or service isn’t enough. More goes into the purchasing decision than just the service or item itself. Other factors influence a purchasing decision including:
- Familiarity with a brand
- Trust in a brand
- Positive perception of the brand
Good marketing helps potential clients and consumers become more familiar with your name, business, and what you have to offer. It helps build a positive perception of your business and brand and fosters trust. These are the steps that build the critical groundwork that encourages sales.
Good Marketing Doesn’t Happen By Chance
Growing a successful business requires an intentional and strategic plan. We can’t expect our businesses to soar if we only invest the little money we have left over into a few disorganized marketing attempts. Right from the start, resources should be set aside for tailored marketing efforts that have specific goals in mind. A strong, organized marketing plan should always be an important part of our business plan.
As with other business costs (i.e. rent, business licenses, etc.), marketing is a cost of doing business. But marketing isn’t so much an expense as it is an investment…
Marketing is an Investment in Yourself and Your Business
Think of marketing as an investment in yourself and the future of your business. To make money, you have to invest money, and like any good investment, that monetary outlay should pay off in the form of more business, brand recognition, and word-of-mouth.
The best part? Marketing efforts oftentimes experience a “snowball effect”. While marketing is an ongoing effort that never ends, it’s common for marketing efforts to begin creating their own self-sustaining momentum. For instance, if creative graphics are added to your social media profiles that inform people what services you offer in an engaging way, people within your network may share that information with others in their network, boosting your visibility and outreach.
So Where Should You Invest?
Now that we’ve established the necessity of a marketing budget, what are some of the important areas where resources should be allocated?
Social Media
As social media has grown in popularity, it’s become even more critical for businesses to be active on numerous platforms. But regularly creating on-brand content, captions, hashtags, and interacting with followers can be a time-consuming job that you may want to consider outsourcing.
As the saying goes, time is money. The time you spend trying to keep up with your social media profiles is time taken away from the other areas of your business. As well, a good social media manager will know exactly how to pull together numerous elements to create engaging content that clearly communicates your brand, mission, and company values. This will free you up to focus on handling the business areas that utilize your passions and strengths.
Branding
Your business should have a strong brand identity that clearly conveys what your business is about and what sets it apart from the competition. Examples of elements that make up a brand package include logos, typography, primary and secondary color palettes, mission and value statements, etc.
It’s critical that your brand is cohesive and consistent across the board, which includes your social media accounts, website, signage, stationary, etc. Check out this helpful article to learn more about the importance of branding and what goes into a brand.
Many business owners choose to work with a brand designer to save them time and energy and ensure their brand is unified and reflects their company’s brand and mission.
Website Design
Whether you offer a product, service, or some combination of both, you need a place where potential clients and consumers can learn more about you and your business. Just as with social media and branding, you’ll want to make sure that the design and overall message is clear, consistent, and in harmony with the rest of your marketing efforts, otherwise you risk confusing potential clients/consumers and creating uncertainty in their minds.
Many business owners will use a pre-made template and simply “plug in” their specific information. While these pre-made templates can offer a quick solution, they oftentimes result in a “cookie-cutter” style that blends in with all the other websites out there. In this day and age of market saturation and intense competition, it’s more important than ever that you stand out from your competitors.
What better way to show potential clients/consumers that you’re distinctly different from others in your field than by having a website that stands out from your competition? A website designer has the expertise to develop palettes, mix typography, and suggest ways to strengthen and highlight you and your business offerings to connect with potential consumers. A professionally designed website will give you a polished, professional, and unique site that has been tailor made for your business.
If you’re not sure how to bring your vision to life, or you’d rather not tackle website design and the maintenance that comes with it, consider hiring a website designer to take that item off your plate. Here are the top questions to ask a potential website designer.
Promotional Materials
This is a large category that can encompass many different items and will depend on the industry you’re in to some extent. Examples include flyers, one-sheets (as an author or speaker), brochures, ad campaigns, infographics, posters, banners, etc. Whatever goes out to potential clients needs to be professional and highlight the solutions you offer to potential consumers. Graphic and media designers can help make sure that happens.
Wrap-Up
While there are many other areas to consider investing in when it comes to marketing, the areas mentioned in this article are critical in giving your business a solid foundation and an edge over your competition.
Consider making this important investment in yourself and your business and create a marketing budget today. What you invest in marketing now will reap benefits down the road by helping you grow a stronger business.