New Mills Web

In this age of the entrepreneur (thanks to the apprentice and Sir Alan Sugar) it seems there’s never been a better time to start your own business.  And many do, full of enthusiasm and new ideas, the trick is then how to stand out from the crowd and differentiate those new products and services.

This is why marketing is so important and instrumental to business success. And if you ask 100 business owners what they think marketing is you’ll probably get 100 different answers. To many, marketing is seen as a time consuming and expensive activity, not worth pursuing unless orders are down. The trouble is companies might start to experience ‘feast and famine’ which is so common in smaller companies and not conducive to a sustainable business. Marketing is not something you start and then stop when the orders pick up again. Instead, a well planned marketing strategy should be integrated into the business plan and part of the whole make-up of the company.

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

We can see this is true as large business spend so much on a marketing department and are constantly looking for new ways to get their company noticed. Small businesses probably do need to market themselves more, but it’s alright for those who can afford it, what about the rest of us, how can we afford to market our companies effectively?

Marketing is a confusing place for those who are not used to it. There are so many businesses offering many different services it’s difficult to know which will be the most effective. There are design agencies offering to do our brochures and websites. And then it’s always tempting when your friend offers to knock us up a leaflet. But you can also do a lot of damage to your business if you don’t get it right. How professional will the results will be and are you going to impress your customers with home made leaflets? Then there are companies offering email marketing, Blogs and search engine optimisation. There’s no wonder many companies just don’t bother with is all – it’s far too exhausting.

But good marketing sells fact. As a marketer, running her own business for 11 years Helen Duncan believes that business owners can benefit greatly by talking to a marketing company. “First Impressions do count which is why I called my company First Impression. Marketing is not rocket science and if a company started trying to blind me with marketing terms I would walk away. A good marketing individual will be interested in your business and will ask you lots of questions. Often businesses have all the answers themselves but they are too close to the business to see it. A good marketing company would not let you throw money at an advertising campaign or a new brochure unless they had some evidence by talking to you or your customers that this was the right way to communicate with your market.

“Marketing is all about understanding your customers in the first instance, what do they want? Then you can work out the best way to communicate with them. So many businesses assume that because they have a fantastic product it’s sure to work. But what good is a great product if nobody hears about it? Or you waste time telling people who aren’t interested or don’t need your products? Targeting the right customers is so important when it comes to raising that bottom line. Getting some advice in the beginning will help you get it right first time and save you a lot of money in the long run.

“There are so many exciting ways we can communicate with out customers these days, which is fantastic, email marketing for example, when it’s done right is a fabulous and very cost effective tool. But we still need to think about who we are talking to and whether email marketing is right for our audience. My simple advice before deciding on any new campaign is to ask who are you communicating with and then try and put yourselves in their shoes. If you haven’t got the time or the expertise bring in the experts, it’ll pay off in the long run. It’s true that companies who benefit from a consistent supply of customers are usually the ones who have integrated marketing into all of their business activities.”

 www.firstimpression.co.uk