So you’ve got an idea. A dream. You have a product or service that you are passionate about and you believe people will give you money in exchange for this product or service. You start figuring out how much it’s going to cost you to produce this product, what you should charge, where are you going to sell it, who you plan on selling it to, etc. You have your plan all figured out except one important step – marketing. How are you going to market your business to get customers?
“No problem,” you say. “I’ll just market via social media. I know how to use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.”
So you set up those accounts, and you get excited about only having to spend $5 to “boost” a single post on your Facebook page. Or you think you don’t have to spend any money at all. You just invite all of your friends to like or follow you on social media.
That works great – until you realize you are not 
attracting new clients or at least not as many as you like. Not many people are even seeing your posts. No one is really sharing them, there is little to no engagement, etc.
So what went wrong in your business plan? Simple – you didn’t make a plan when it came to marketing. Specifically you did not budget how much money you were going to spend on marketing probably because you didn’t think you NEEDED to budget any money for marketing.
Why do you need to budget for marketing? Because marketing is a crucial aspect of every business. Marketing is a business communicating with its customers the value of their business. You are telling people why they need your product or service. Without marketing no one knows you exist or what may set you apart from your competition. Marketing helps customers get to know you and in return they choose you because they like what they see.
The great news about modern marketing is businesses no longer have to go to the big companies and pay a huge amount of money for TV ads, radio ads, or billboards. Now you can market from the convenience of your own home via social media. The downside to it being this “easy” is everyone is doing it. That translates to you needing to fight to be noticed, and that takes money (albeit less than you might think).
Here is what all marketing includes:
- Content marketing – creating your own original content such as blog posts, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc.
- Ads – paid ads on social media, Google adwords, etc.
- Managing and maintaining your social media accounts
- Evaluating all stats to determine what is working and what isn’t
- Getting published in local newspapers, magazines, niche blogs, etc.
- Press releases
- Networking
- Visual marketing – original photographs and video
- Creating and setting up a website
- Maintaining online stores such as Ebay or Etsy
This list is not all exhaustive, but it tells you why companies have an entire marketing department. Overall with everything that has to be done you need money to pay for ads, marketing materials, etc. and to pay to outsource. With everything involved, not many people can or want to do EVERYTHING. So determine what you can do and what you love to do and then determine what you can outsource. Do you hate writing, or are you just not good at it? Outsource it to someone who can write great blog posts for you! Do you not have a clue how to make great ads on Facebook that get you the results you want? Hire someone who knows how! Do you want to learn how marketing in your niche works? Pay for a great class that teaches you. Is all your time spent just producing your product or service? Hire someone to take care of your marketing so you can get back to what you are passionate about. Marketing, if done professionally, pays for itself and then some.
When people ask me, “What do I need to be doing when it comes to marketing,” my first answer is ALWAYS you need to start with a plan. Figure out who your audience is, what they like, who they hang out with, etc. For more information see this previous blog post. This step is also something you can outsource!
Here at Apples of Gold Communications, we specialize in personalized Online Success Roadmaps where we analyze the marketing strategy or efforts you have right now and then tell you what you can change to be more competitive within your specific market – all for less than you might think. You can then take that plan and implement it, yourself, hire someone to take care of it for you, or get some coaching to help you implement these specific steps. The point is – you have a plan, so your marketing budget makes the most impact for the least amount. And that is the first step to having a successful business. Contact us today for your FREE 25-minute strategy consultation, so you can hit the ground running ahead of your competition!
