Marketing

I’m constantly amazed in talking with business owners who are struggling to either grow the business, or just stay above water, that they do so little marketing. To them it seems like an unimportant activity that can be put off until they have some time to devote to it (which is never). Yet they complain that their sales are not at the level they want them to be.

I spoke with an older business owner whose sales had dropped dramatically during the past few years. He told me that sales always came from relationships he had built. He was over 80 years old and most of his contacts were by now retired or deceased. When I asked him about marketing, he said it was a waste of time and money. He had tried marketing about twenty years ago, and gave up on it after doing a single mailing of 200 postcards which garned only 4 replies (which, by most standards is an average mailing response). He said he would never try that again.

A more typical story is a business owner so engrossed in the day-to-day issues of the business that he or she does not take the time needed to form a marketing strategy. Their businesses run in cycles of fat and lean. When business is slim they go out and pound on doors to solicit new business. As soon as the business comes in the once again ignore any sales or marketing-realted activities.

How much smarter they would be, and how much more profitable their businesses would be, if they were to take the time to put together a strategy, develop a marketing plan, and execute the plan. They would develop a much more consistent revenue stream, and might even avoid cycles of hiring and layoffs perpetuated by up and down sales.