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.

As you look at search session data, where 50% of search sessions are over 30 minutes (Microsoft data), and the number of queries and terms increasing (more search and refinement), is online information access increasing purchase cycles for local products and services? I’ll have to look for some data, and I have to believe it is.

In a yellow pages world, we would call a business during the research process, giving them an opportunity to sell us while also helping us in the research phase. The merchant was a key part of the information gather process. As a result, more spontaneous consumers would buy faster. Online information and its transparency and access is great, but also increases the noise that consumer must manage. As a business owner, you should expect fewer information gathering and research calls, as more of that activity is self-served now. Thus, your website should try to aid the consumer in this process, so you still get the credit for the information. You also need to appear to consumers throughout their purchase cycle, not just when they are ready to buy.