Marketing Is a Business Necessity, Not Luxury

Why is marketing so important to the success of your business?

Well, if you don’t have clients or customers you don’t have a business. It’s that simple. The single biggest reason businesses fail is from a lack marketing. The “build it and they will come” philosophy makes a great Hollywood story but in the real world of business it doesn’t work.

It’s been reported that most businesses fail because of a lack of capital. But I’ve seen plenty of businesses launch with sufficient startup capital only to fail because of a poor marketing strategy. 

Many businesspeople believe or act as if marketing is a luxury. Marketing is one of the key fundamental components to building a successful business. You could be the smartest person in the world, be the best in your field but if people don’t know who you are, the value you deliver, how great your products or services are, or even where to find you, you don’t have a business.

See, marketing is much more than just doing a promotion or advertisement, a postcard or coupon. Marketing is about strategy. It’s about creating an effective campaign that educates your prospects and clients on the value you deliver. It’s about building the know, like and trust factor that has the prospect wanting to do business with you and generates more referral business.

For many entrepreneurs and sales professionals their marketing consists of a business card and networking events. That’s not a strategy it’s one of many marketing or relationship building tactics.

I like to use the analogy of a football game because football involves strategy. Every football game begins with a kickoff and then followed up with a series of plays to move the ball closer toward the end zone for an attempt to score a touchdown. How many games would a football team win if they just went out on the field and kicked the ball and didn’t follow it up with series of plays? Not many!

Your business is really no different. To begin the game of business you engage the prospect with a kickoff activity by sending an email promotion, mailer, or attend a networking event. If this is never followed up with a series of strategic plays you’ve done nothing to build the relationship or demonstrate the value you deliver; and failed to move the prospect down the field into the end zone and score. It would be like going out on the football field and just kicking off each time.

If you want more business think strategically, not tactically. What sales and marketing plays do you need to execute to move your prospects down the field to score? You can put together an effective marketing strategy campaign on any budget. When you have a marketing strategy, you’ll attract more of the right business and more referral business because you’ve demonstrated value and built the know, like and trust factor.