Do I need marketing?
That's actually a good question and one you should definitely be asking yourself as a business owner.
But first, before we look at whether or not you need to invest in marketing (we'll go back to what that means), let's make sure we cover what marketing is.
To take a very generic approach, marketing can be defined as everything you do in order to acquire more customers. It can be more or less passive, online, offline, free (ish), expensive, it really depends on your business, your goals, and your resources or lack thereof.
More often than not, when someone asks if they need marketing, they think about active digital marketing techniques. Think website, social media, email campaigns, SEO, paid ads and so on. And believe it or not, not everyone needs to invest in digital marketing! I know, shooting myself in the foot there am I not? Well, not really. Because if you don't need digital marketing them investing in it might create more problems than benefits, which means you'd end up frustrated with marketing and with me and that benefits absolutely no one.
Ok, so how do you decide where to invest your dollars but also your time?
Your Business
What is your business? What do you do and is it something where having an online presence of any sort would benefit you and allow you to grow? I would say that, in today's digital world, most businesses would need some sort of online presence, even if it's just a Google MyBusiness profile.
At a minimum, you need to be able to let customers and prospects find the answers to 3 basic questions:
What is it?
Where is it?
What do people say about it? (And yes that means getting genuine reviews and not deleting the ones you are not so happy about, as long as they are legitimate.)
So, do you need an online presence? Absolutely. Do you need active marketing efforts? Maybe…
Your Goals
This is a critical one. The amount of effort or the dollars you spend need to be aligned with your business goals. If you are already operating at capacity and have no need to acquire more customers in the short term, then why would you invest in active promotions? An online presence that maintains your image is probably what is most important at that stage.
On the other hand, if you are trying to grow your business, generate leads and ultimately generate more revenue, then marketing is pretty much a non-negotiable.
Always bring it back to your expected return on investment, a dollar spent needs to earn you more than a dollar in additional business. And don't forget that, as a business owner, your own time has value as well, it's not all about dollars directly invested in ads, resources or subscriptions.
Your Customers
Last but not least when deciding where to invest your money when it comes to digital marketing: your customers. Existing ones but more importantly, your future ones. Who are they? What do they need? Where can you reach them?
The best way to answer this question is to do a persona mapping exercise. I strongly recommend spending the time to go through that exercise. It is usually the first step I go through during my strategy workshops as it will be an invaluable tool for many aspects of your business.
I'll be writing more about personas, how to create them, and how to use them later this month so keep an eye out! In the meantime, if you want to get started, you can download my free template here.
Still not too sure how to navigate that process? Hit me up for a free quick chat!