Many if not most small and medium business owners want to increase their customer base and generate more revenue. Some want to generate more revenue from their existing customer base. Almost all of them will be using marketing in order to accomplish that.
How much do you really know about marketing? Most of the small business owners I know think marketing is a box to check and if they just learn to master LinkedIn or find the right networking group they will have taken care of it and gotten it off their list. A few have someone in their office create and manage an Instagram account or Facebook page. Some sign up with various vendors who promise them page one of Google or a certain number of Instagram followers as if that alone will cause their bank account to swell.
Many of these vendors will deliver on their promise as long as you are using them, the moment you stop using them the numbers may go back down. But what if those numbers were not really helping you anyway? Getting your phone to ring doesn’t mean the people on the other line are the customers you want and the time taken up screening them can give you the opposite of what you wanted.
Most of the business owners I have helped over the years have had a lot in common. There was no overall strategy or plan in place for their marketing, they did not understand what it was that they were getting for their money and they believed that each marketing venture could stand on its own with little or no involvement from them. Most importantly they did not know how to analyze or measure what was working.
Larger companies and agencies have the ability to do comprehensive marketing campaigns at budgets that smaller and medium sized businesses just cannot afford. This is why so many SMB’s (small and medium businesses) either have someone in the business do their marketing for them with varying results or hire vendors who specialize in one or two types of marketing. What is usually missing is the research, strategy and planning.
As a marketing consultant I do not design websites, execute on social media campaigns, send out emails to your contacts or create demand generation campaigns. I am well connected with many of the best vendors who can do these things. My goal would be to understand your business, your industry, and what your goals are and help you get there. Once we have crafted a plan, you can hire whoever you like to execute on it (although if you don’t know anyone I can refer you) and if you want to execute on it yourself or have someone in-house that works as well.
Most importantly, I can keep an eye on your projects, do the analytics and generate reports that show you what is working and what is not so that we can tweak your plan and pivot if necessary.
When building a house, you start with the architect, not with the subcontractor.
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