“If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll make an excuse.”
While we can all agree that effective marketing is critical to attracting customers and growing one’s business, sadly this is often the first element of the operation that gets sacrificed when budgets and time gets tight.
It’s true, the return on investment for your marketing efforts aren’t always immediate, so sometimes the value of specific initiatives in your strategy may be debatable. Did this ad generate the return it was expect to? Is this medium right to cultivate the client that I want for my business?
An added challenge is that because marketing is an internal function of your enterprise, it does not command the same attention that elements of your core business do, especially when it comes to responding to customer needs or daily delivery of products and services. However, it’s important that your marketing efforts don’t get shelved solely as a result of the common excuses for not aggressively driving your promotions strategy.
Are you guilty of the three most common excuses for not investing time and money into a marketing strategy?
“I Don’t Have Time”
It’s true what they say, that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. So, if you don’t have time to make the best impression upon your customers the first time, how will you find time to remedy the situation later?
The time spent developing a marketing plan is just as important as the financial forecasting you’ll do to launch your business. You may have a great idea for a product or service that meets the needs of a wide audience, but if you don’t have a vehicle to get that out in front of the customers that need it, you’ll never realize the full potential for your business.
Time spent on marketing today is an investment in future business. With the right strategy, you may find that as little as 30 minutes per day will create the impact that you need to connect with your customers and build an effective relationship.
“I Don’t Have the Budget”
With the wide variety of channels to reach your desired audience, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the scope of advertising and promotion channels available to you. A generation ago, it seems that the choices were much simpler, much clearer – you had the newspaper, radio and a local television station.
Some of those traditional mediums may not be as effective as they were before with the expansion of the news and entertainment options available to consumers. Now, with multiple television service providers, subscription radio packages and a change in reader trends, traditional media is not necessarily the best avenue as it once was. And these advertising solutions can sometimes be costly without measurable engagement.
The good news is that you don’t have to break the bank to promote and advertise your business. Now, as the internet has permeated most every element of our daily lives, combined with the convenience of mobile technology, opportunities for advertisers have opened to a wider slate of options.
The exciting element of online marketing opportunities are the trackable connections that you are making with the viewership. You can identify which campaigns are effective, which are not, and adapt your strategy accordingly. Through websites, online forums and now with the networking potential through social media, the right approach doesn’t require a big investment to generate leads and create awareness for your business.
“I Don’t Know Where To Start”
Like anything, the key to success is to have a plan. As the proprietor of a small business, this can seem daunting. Sometimes what you need is a little expertise at your side to help get the ball rolling and to create the initial momentum you need to effectively showcase your business to the public, strategically advertise, and take full advantage of the modern age of mobile technology and information sharing.
This is where we can help. At Trend Lab, our team takes a big picture approach to your business through analysis, planning and execution of marketing plans that allow you to focus on your core business knowing that you have marketing resources at work. It’s like having access to a full marketing team of writers, marketers and web designers at your fingertips.
Don’t be satisfied with excuses. Let’s talk today about your business and how you can take your marketing and promotions platform to greater heights. Call us at 780-340-7687 or e-mail us at info@trendlab.ca
