We debunk 3 common marketing misconceptions

Here’s a riddle for you:

• What is the most integral a part of driving demand for your small business, but the first thing you surrender when times get tough?
• In what a part of our business do we place the biggest emphasis on driving results, but where do we struggle to allocate resources?
• What is one of our biggest frustrations when it involves our business, but also an area that we have never taken the time to totally understand?

If you guessed marketing, you would be right.

I’m writing this to galvanize business owners in all places who feel like marketing is a mythical unicorn that is too difficult or time-consuming to grasp. Or worse, they simply don’t care because they’re too busy doing every little thing else in their company. Time constraints are real, don’t get me improper, but what’s more necessary in your small business than connecting with the people you ought to buy from you?

Marketing is a megaphone for your brand. You can have the coolest product or service, but if no one knows about it, all you have is an expensive hobby. Business owners have sky-high expectations of marketing, but I’d argue that it’s always the a part of the business they understand the least. Moreover, at the first sign of danger, they are able to pull out the parachute: fire the agency, cut the budget, rebrand, etc.

What gives?

First, marketing is not the same as finance, accounting or operations. These features give us black and white, cut and dry answers. We also put this pressure on our marketing. (*3*) or “We need to see the data!”

We don’t understand it, although marketing metrics may tell us so Whatthey do not tell us Why. Marketing is the a part of our business that deals with people. This is going to get complicated.

The relationship between marketing and business can often be controversial. It makes me sad because I think this needs to be the best relationship in the company. How can we improve this? First of all, I think we want to grasp each other higher. So I’ve come up with three major misconceptions that I think will help us change the way we think about marketing.

Misconception #1: Marketing = sales

Marketing’s job is not only to extend sales (I can hear some business owners clutching their pearls as I write this); the idea is to make your product desirable and familiar to individuals who are more likely to buy it. Simply put, it’s about saying the right things to the right people. Well-conducted marketing drives demand and facilitates purchase. Actual sales depend on how good your product or service is.

Moreover, good marketing is not only about promotion – it actually also includes the development of your offer, pricing and strategy. Think about it: who knows your customers higher than your marketing team? They seek advice from customers literally on the ground floor every day. When you are developing offers, these are the first people you must ask. They are the bridge between you and the client.

Misconception #2: I do not really want to do marketing

Let me set the stage. You have a company. You hire a marketing person or agency. You say, “Here it is. Sell ​​it on the mountaintops – see you later.”

You expect marketing to operate alone in this vacuum. That’s why you hired them, right? Evil. Communication with your marketing team is crucial to your success as a business owner. Back to marketing, being a megaphone for your organization. If you are not giving them feedback on what you want/dislike, what is going on on behind the scenes, your story and your thoughts on what is going on on in the industry, what do you expect them to advertise?

I’m not saying you have to do their work for them – I’m saying you have to be energetic in the content they post, how they tell our story and what our standpoint is. In short, you and your marketing team needs to be like peas and carrots. Not just someone they send a report back to once a month.

Misconception #3: I would like to see results inside the first 30 days

We all want a marketing magic bullet. It doesn’t exist. Marketing is like the scientific method. It’s about testing, adapting and being creative. Over and once again. Until the end of time, really. Again, that is what makes it different. We are all impressed by agencies that show us case studies where they increased their company’s revenue 10x in the first month.

We like the idea of ​​something happening now and being refined over time. Show me somewhere that something like this happened. You will have to attend at least 90 days for any results. Long-term branding initiatives may begin to emerge after 3-4 business quarters. I know, it sucks. I see. If you ought to see results, you’ll want to be patient AND realistic. Anyone in marketing who says they’ll guarantee a result is lying. Every business is different. There are no guarantees. So as an alternative of looking at it in terms of, “I need to get 3x ROI in the first month,” can we as an alternative be curious about what good results appear to be for us?

Yes, it requires patience and investment. However, if you look at it the other way, you have put all this time, effort and energy into creating your small business – why would not you ought to invest in it and have the patience to see it grow? Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your marketing program cannot be like that either.

Marketing will be difficult. There are many aspects to think about that are specific to each business, including our customer base and the environment. Complexity doesn’t suggest bad, it just means different. So I like to recommend that we start pondering about it otherwise to make it more practical. Step 1 is to grasp what marketing really is so you’ll be able to apply it to you.