As a business owner, you are always trying to save money wherever possible. One way business owners try to save money is do-it-yourself marketing. While this seems like a great idea, there are some definite downfalls to be considered before moving forward with self-marketing as opposed to hiring it out. These downfalls need to be considered before deciding to do your own marketing or if you should just hire someone else to do it.
One big question to ask yourself is whether or not you are actually saving any money by doing your own marketing. Yes, you may not be spending as much if you are not hiring someone else, but is your time and the business you gain from your marketing worth what you are saving? If you were paying yourself to do this marketing, would you actually be saving money? You will also want to consider if you would gain more business by having someone else do your marketing for you. DIY marketing sounds great, but what is the opportunity cost of doing it yourself?
A second thing to consider is how much you really know about marketing. Everyone knows a little about marketing; let’s face it, we are confronted with marketing ads all day long. The question is whether you know enough to have a successful marketing campaign or not. Anyone can come up with a marketing plan that they think will bring in extra business, but there is a reason there are people that do marketing for a living, and they are the ones that usually know what will work and what will not work.
Let’s face it, we all think we’re smart, but nobody knows everything. An accountant probably doesn’t know much about construction, and a construction company owner probably doesn’t know much about selling things. The point is that just because you know a lot, does not mean you know enough about marketing to have a successful marketing plan.
There is more than one way to run a business, and with that, there is more than one way to build a marketing campaign. There is no template to follow when it comes to marketing. Each business and industry has different qualities that attract consumers to them and what works for one company may not work for another. No roadmap exists to tell every business how they should go about marketing their business. A person can read as many books on marketing that they can get their hands on, but reading does not give experience. A marketing professional will have this experience.
As a business owner, you’re constantly concerned with every aspect of your business. You can focus on profit one minute, employees the next, and so on. A question to be asked is how much time you have to dedicate to marketing. If you cannot stay focused on building a marketing plan, then hiring a professional marketing company could be the key to unlocking the potential of your business.