Importance of Marketing

Marketing is the lifeline of almost every business. This is how a business steps out and informs people that they are and they exist. Successful marketing results in successful sales.

The heart of your business success lies in its marketing. Most aspects of your business depend on successful marketing. The overall marketing umbrella covers advertising, public relations, promotions and sales. Marketing is a process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers. Without marketing, your business may offer the best products or services in your industry, but none of your potential customers would know about it. Without marketing, sales may crash and companies may have to close.

Getting Word Out

For a business to succeed, the product or service it provides must be known to potential buyers. Unless your business is known in the community and have communication with your customers readily available, you have to use marketing strategies to create product or service awareness. Without marketing, your potential customers may never be aware of your business offerings and your business may not be given the opportunity to progress and succeed. Using marketing to promote your product, service and company provides your business with a chance of being discovered by prospective customers.

Higher Sales

Once your product, service or company gets on the radar screen of your prospects, it increases your chances that consumers will make a purchase. As awareness becomes a reality, it is also the point where new customers start to spread the word, telling friends and family about this amazing new product they discovered. Your sales will steadily increase as the word spreads. Without employing marketing strategies, these sales may not have ever happened; without sales, a company cannot succeed.

Sourced from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-marketing-success-business-589.html

There is paid marketing and this is usually done by established companies but if you are starting out, you need something affordable. Small companies might not be able to afford a marketing budget but they can use what is already available. They can create local awareness by giving business stories to local newspapers or magazines or make use of email marketing.

Create local awareness.

Gaining coverage in local papers, trade magazines and websites can greatly increase name recognition and educate people about your business – driving new customer acquisition. While many growing businesses in competitive landscapes may want to hire an expensive public relations firm, startups and small businesses can start off with some simple “do-it-yourself” PR.

Start by researching publications and writers that cover your industry — or local business. Once you have a grasp on the writers you want to reach and the stories they typically write for their publication, craft a pitch around your business that will pique their interest.

Increase lead generation and customer engagement with email marketing.
According to a recent survey conducted by Ascend2, email is the most effective digital marketing tactic, the one that delivers the best ROI and the least difficult to execute. Start a customer newsletter that offers timely information about the business, special promotions or an inside look at the company. This helps build a community with your customers, and it keeps your product and business on their minds.

Sourced from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241607

If you have done all you can and still there is no improvement, you should consider hiring a marketer. There are signs that you cannot ignore like stagnant sales or you simply are not doing any sort of marketing.

Signs that you should hire a marketer

Sales are Stagnant

If you know there is a market for your product and service, and you’re confident that your customer service, sales team and pricing are stellar, the problem with lagging sales could well be ineffective marketing. One easy way to tell? Many marketing agencies offer a free brief consultation. Take a couple of them up on it!

They’ll take a look at what you’re doing now and offer some suggestions for improvement. You’ll come away with a feel for how much your marketing is holding you back – and hopefully, a feel for which agency you should work with.

It’s Not Getting Done

We get it. You are doing five jobs. It only makes sense to give priority to the ones that immediately pay the bills or put out the fires. Because marketing takes time and strategy, it quickly moves to the bottom of the pile. Since marketing is the only thing a marketing agency does, they can simultaneously take it off your plate and make it top priority.

Sourced from: http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/should-i-hire-a-marketing-agency