“I don’t have time for marketing”
John Jantsch has a great post on the issues small business owners have with marketing and fitting it into their operating routine. I agree with his view of Parkinson’s Law, as it is easy to find things to fill the time void, keep us busy, and make the less comfortable items (like Marketing) ones that we procrastinate or avoid.
I’ve argued for a long time that most people are not natural marketers, and while it takes great courage to start one’s own business, most entrepreneurs are more passionate about “doing” their business, craft or trade, than they are talking about or selling themselves.
Marketing is not a natural act to most of us and may feel cheap or desperate. More likely, though, it’s just hard. Thinking about potential customers, their needs, what will inspire them to act, how to differentiate from competitors – these are all challenging projects.
Marketing is also where many resort to their opinions, or those of their friends and colleagues, rather than relying on data to provide the answers. Especially in the Internet age, consumers are actively providing useful data – their search queries, their social network activities, what they say (good/bad) about businesses with reviews and ratings. Business owners of any size now have built in market research.
Marketing tools, especially on the web, are more prevalent than ever before. However, to many business owners, those tools are daunting and further dissuade them from acting. I like Jantsch’s recommendation of a monthly marketing theme and specific actions to take. Just taking the actions, though, doesn’t mean that they will be done right nor impact the business. Finding a partner who can provide some marketing education, recommendations and best practices is a good first step.
Tags: duct tape marketing, Internet marketing, small business marketing