It’s amazing to me – the logic used by many business leaders. “We’re on tough times. Sales are down. Let’s cut back on marketing.” Don’t hurt yourself even more when times are tough. Here’s why you shouldn’t cut back on marketing.
Marketing Is Valuable
The real problem is that marketing is not viewed as a valuable source of lead generation in most companies. It seems like it’s an extra, “nice-to-have” exercise in branded pens or pretty logos to put on business cards.
If that is your view of marketing, it does not surprise me that you’ve fallen on tough times.
Because your competition probably has a better view of marketing. They likely understand that marketing is the exercise in positioning, coupled with accurate advertising, to best capture attention, awareness and interest in your services. And they are doing it, and you’re not.
You’ve Got It Wrong
So you need to have a come to Jesus moment. Seriously, you should come to Jesus. But additionally, you need to come to the place of repentance of your poor views of marketing and advertising as sources of lead generation and growth for your business.
You’ve likely not been alone in this. Someone once told you that marketing doesn’t work for your field. Or you tried one thing, for a month, five years ago and it didn’t work. ah..
- You tried one thing. That’s not how marketing works.
- You tried it for a month – and nothing works in a month span. It’s marketing, not magic.
- You did the work. You – the expert marketing person. I’m sure you are great at what you do, but you’re not good at everything.
The premise of your argument has more holes than lacey swiss.
The truth is, some form of marketing and advertising is necessary in every form of business. You just have not found your sweet spot yet.
The Right View of Marketing
So, the right view of marketing takes a few things into consideration.
First, marketing is the positioning of your firm or service in the marketplace. It is strategic, deep, and impactful for a company to be truly positioned. If you do any service for anyone, that is not a position, that’s desperation.
Second, advertising is the expression of that position in the marketplace to the right target customer. If you don’t have a position, you likely don’t have a target audience either. So advertising becomes a random guessing game of lost dollars and little return.
Third, 99% of businesses that exceed the 3M threshold have marketing and advertising as a CRITICAL part of the lead generation machine. So if you are struggling to beat the 3M threshold, and you don’t have an intentional position and marketing plan – that might be why you can’t beat it.
Fourth, sales is the activity of assisting an interested prospect into the right solution that you offer. You probably have your sales team doing your marketing for you, which might be working, but it’s not going to yield the results that a real marketing department could.
Have you considered how a real marketing engagement would allow your marketing to have a real and deep impact on the way you do business?
How did Starbucks build coffee as a billion dollar business? Marketing
How did Netflix rise to take over the streaming internet? Marketing
So many of the great companies of our day are great marketing companies. And this does not have to be limited to just those big Silicon Valley companies. Your small, 10-person shop can be the Netflix of your industry if you apply the right marketing and advertising strategy to your company.
Then, combine that marketing with advertising. Get the word out there on social media, drive traffic with SEO, send emails that engage your customer. Build lead funnels that drive real opportunity for your business.
So You’re Down – But Not Out
I’m sorry that this year is off to a tougher start. I feel for you. But to offer up the white flag and pull money from the very activities that could propel you our of the downward spiral is downright foolishness.
Take 2018 by the horns. It’s a great economy for most businesses, so let’s go get it – and we can help.
