Why your business needs marketing
A few months back, I unconsciously decided to stop doing our marketing on Fridays. I wanted to dedicate ALL of my time in the week to recruitment. This wasn’t the first time I’d done this, but it was the longest period we didn’t market the business for. I couldn’t see the point in giving up precious hours of candidate sourcing to do our marketing, especially when we were busy. Oh how wrong I was!
I had made a mistake.
Over the course of the next month or two, our website dropped its ranking on Google, and we were having to work harder and harder to get new candidates. We were still generating the same number of candidates out to our clients in the same time frame, (and at the same quality may I add!), but we were working overtime to do this, and our vacancy list was shrinking. For the first time in two years, we were questioning ourselves and actually thinking about proactively searching for new business. Then, I took a step back and thought, what are we doing differently. That’s when it dawned on me…I hadn’t been doing the marketing.
I then decided to set aside a whole Friday that week, to create posts, schedule, write an e-shot, and brainstorm blog topics to go out the following week. I was still being pulled into recruitment with incoming candidate and client calls (which I love and definitely am not moaning about), but I managed to create a weeks worth of content scheduled across our social media platforms.
The result?
MORE!
More of everything, candidate applications, referrals, client enquiries (old and new), responses to speculative CVs. I couldn’t quite believe it, the buzz was back! So here I am, once again, setting side time put my marketing hat back on.
This has brought me back to this blog post I wrote in 2020 – why businesses need marketing. But I didn’t fully appreciate how much WE needed it until recently.
In the digital age, it’s becoming more and more important and a growing number of companies who previously haven’t had any marketing in place are taking the leap into the marketing world. It’s hard to see the results directly sometimes until you start it for the first time, or you stop doing it like we did. I’ve heard and said reasons such as:
‘It’s an extra expense’, ‘you can’t really tell the return on investment’, ‘we don’t have any time’, ‘I don’t know how to do it’.
But with the movement and huge growth of the digital landscape and the ever changing economic landscape, marketing is becoming an essential tool to drive business and more importantly, brand awareness. And the longer you avoid it, the further behind your competitors you fall.
So, if you’re still unsure of whether to take the leap to develop your business’ marketing, whether by investing the time, or money, here are some reasons why it’s important, and how it drives business. Oh, and you don’t actually have to put a lot of money into it if you don’t have the budget!
Here are some reasons. Whether your business sells a product or a service, lets refer to the people you are trying to attract as ‘buyers’.
Why Marketing is Important for a Business:
1. It sells
Number one, plain and simple, the more people that know about you, the more potential buyers you will have. Marketing gets the word out, whether by email campaigns, social media or direct mail. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pintrest, almost everyone is on some form of social media. It’s a fantastic way to gain more exposure for your business. More exposure – more potential buyers.
2. It tells buyers why they should come to you over your competitors.
Buyers often research the product, prices, quality and the companies who sell them. The more obvious and readily available the information is, the easier it is for buyers to make a decision.
3. It instils confidence.
With effective website content, imagery, blogs, testimonials, case studies and pictures, customers can be sure what they are getting and will feel more confident in you, your brand, the product. This means they will be more likely to buy.
4. It makes it personal.
How often have you heard ‘people buy from people’? Yes, you have a sales team for that, but some people don’t like to be obviously sold to. Marketing can create a more personal experience online. It engages potential buyers from the start. Give them meaningful information, sell your brand through social media, and show the people behind the product. Show them personality.
5. It makes you memorable.
That shirt you’re wearing, the chair your sat on, the software you’re using, the estate agency you’ve used, the insurance company you’ve bought from. How often after a certain period of time have you forgotten where that item or service came from? Marketing keeps your business in mind before, during and after the transaction, making buyers more likely to come back time and again. Social media content, follow up emails, direct mail and ‘thank you for your custom’ cards make the whole process more personable and memorable.
6. You’ll understand your business and target market more. 
A strategy needs research. Research into the target market and how to sell to them, how to market to them. You know what they say, knowledge is power! You’ll gain a clearer understanding of your target market and this will not only help your marketing plan, but also your wider business strategy.
7. Marketing spreads the word.
Marketing gains you more exposure to potential buyers. And good marketing enables a strong reputation and brand. People are again more likely to buy and come back to you. Are you seeing a pattern here?
8. It might not cost as much as you think.
Lots can be done for FREE! Who doesn’t like free things? Posting on social media platforms – free, creating content for your blog – free, the social media planning tool Hootsuite – free, asking buyers for reviews and then posting them on the website or social media – free. Ok time is money, but you don’t need to invest a huge sum to start seeing a return. Yes, you can sponsor posts for a high engagement rate, but you don’t have to if it’s not in the budget.
9. It grows your business
Last but not least in the slightest, it grows your business. It goes back to the first point and also joins all previous ones. A successful strategy will engage customers, build your brand and exposure. More exposure = more customers = more business.
If you’d like some helpful articles on how to devise a strategy, what different types of marketing there are or how to get started, click on the links below.
Check these out:
Marketing Strategy – https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/building-perfect-marketing-strategy/
Forbes – https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/06/01/how-to-develop-an-effective-marketing-strategy/#51e293982324
Strategic marketing – https://opportunitymarketing.co.uk/blog/what-is-strategic-marketing-and-why-is-it-so-important
And if you’ve decided it’s time to take the leap, we’ve got stacks of top marketing talent at our fingertips. From part time Marketing Assistants who can dabble in your social media, to all round senior Marketing Directors at board level from companies big and small. Give us a call and we can discuss who would fit your business and company culture best. Or if you’d rather see a sample of the candidates we have, check out our top talent.
Related Dovetail articles:
The Art of Multitasking
Marketing Must Reads
Coping with Change
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