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Mistake #23

Not Investing In Marketing

Believe it or not, there are many small businesses out there getting by with little or no marketing. Nineteen percent of you don’t do any marketing according to the State of Small Business Report by Wasp Technologies. In my experience, even those businesses which don’t do any marketing do marketing. It’s just not recognized as such.

You do need to invest. Your business will never grow unless you invest a reasonable amount of money to acquire a new customer. Here’s an example, a business owner wants 50 new customers per month, which should require a marketing budget of around $12,500, but they’re only budgeting $3000 per month. Guess what? They’re never going to hit their target. Budgets and goals need to be in sync.

Why CEO’s Are Unwilling to Invest

Some entrepreneurs think that by scrimping on marketing, they’ll be able to put that money back into the business. However, your business is like a car, and marketing is gas. It stops going when you run out.

Here are the top five excuses I’ve encountered:

 You confuse marketing with other things. Those who have this misconception think marketing is about advertising campaigns, websites, email marketing, social media, etc. Marketing is a lot more (hopefully, you’ve seen some of that already in this book).

 You don’t have enough money. As long as you’re producing something of value, you have to do marketing to grow your company, because it’s the only way to attract more business. If your marketing is producing positive ROI, why would you ever stop doing it? Remember, marketing is an investment, not a cost.

 It costs too much. You have the money but don’t want to spend it on marketing because you think it’s too expensive. There are many low-cost and no-cost options out there if things are tight. Also, good marketing campaigns can be self-funding.

 You were burned in the past. If you hired an agency or marketing consultant and had a bad experience, you may be reluctant to spend money. However, you have to get back in the saddle and try again. Just do it differently this time, and test your way to success (see mistake #52).

 Your think your assistant can do it. Sometimes business owners want to save some money and think their administrative assistant can do the marketing. Guess what? He or she probably has less time and aptitude for marketing than you do.