Every business I know, would LOVE to have a fulltime Marketing Manager, Marketing Co-ordinator, or Marketing Consultant, focussed on their business, developing a marketing plan and strategy, implementing the plan, co-ordinating the promotions, updating the social media, and monitoring all the results.
But, in the real world, the budget of a small business usually prohibits the available funds to recruit such a person. So what are the options for a small business owner?
1. DIY – Do it Yourself
You could do the marketing research, marketing planning, marketing strategy, set marketing goals, run the marketing promotions, write news and blogs, manage the social media, and analyse and monitor all the results of your efforts. This could work, and this might not work. After all, are you are marketing genius? And when will you make time to do the work you get paid for?
2. Employ a Marketing Co-Ordinator – fulltime or parttime
This might work, but you also have the responsibility of managing another employee, and paying employee benefits. Also the marketing employee has quite a closed view of marketing innovations by only working in the one company. But this is definitely a step up from Option 1, and may yield excellent results.
3. Work with a Marketing Consultant
Marketing Consultants can be a huge bonus for a business, if you can afford one. Since they work with multiple businesses they have more of a perspective of what has worked and what doesn’t work in marketing on an ongoing basis. Their universal perspective can return amazing results, if they are good at what they do. The only thing with Marketing Consultants, is that they tend to be quite expensive, and a little out of reach for the budget of a freelancer or small business in the early days.
4. Work with a Marketing Coach
A Marketing Coach is a new concept, which small businesses are starting to embrace has a happy medium between affordability, quality and experience. A Marketing Coach combines a little of the DIY, and a little of the Marketing Consultant, to create an affordable and potentially effective and profitable solution for your business.
In summary, the most important thing you have to remember is that you do need to select somebody to work on your marketing, even if it is just you.
My partner and I have hired a gal that is great at copywriting and just needs a few extra dollars a week to help us. As long as we are very specific in what we want her to do, it works out well. You can find students at local technical colleges that can help you and not charge a great deal of money. Just another idea! Sue
sue´s last [type] ..Always Give Your Best
Twitter: abnormalmarket
June 28, 2010 at 11:38 am | Permalink
@sue, Hi Sue, Thanks for your suggestion. I think the students from the local college may be a good idea for extra help implementing the marketing in the business. But I think if you need advice, feedback, coaching, or higher level imput, you may be struggling with this kind of person.
This may be a good step between DIY, and working with a professional.
Twitter: kathygriffiths
June 27, 2010 at 4:04 pm | Permalink
I’m a DIY kind of gal because I love knowing how to do everything. Perhaps is a control thing too. However, I’m now at a point I could use some extra help. I’ve always been self employed and would hire free lance work done before I hired employees.
I’ve found some great folks on #blog 30 that I’m considering using.
Thanks for the post
Twitter: abnormalmarket
June 28, 2010 at 11:44 am | Permalink
@Kathryn Griffiths, Hi Kathy, Yes, I can agree with you on being a DIY gal. I’m a bit of a control-freak too
But I also know when the point comes when you really should get some help.
It’s great to know you’ve found such wondering people in the #blog30. I’ve been so impressed with some people I’ve met in the challenge too. If you need any advice at any time, feel free to ask, and I’m happy to help
I find it very interesting that the majority of small business owners don’t follow simple marketing principles and seem to think that simply having a website is all it takes to do business online. In my small business marketing services, I run across this everyday. I spend a lot of my time educating small business owners on how to market right and many small business owners simply don’t have the time or experience to do it right the first time. That’s why outsourcing to a consultant usually works best in most situations.
Twitter: abnormalmarket
June 28, 2010 at 11:54 am | Permalink
@Small Business Marketing Gahsonay.com, When I first saw this comment, I considered not publishing it, because I really appreciate it when people use their OWN names and not the company name when making a comment. PLUS it looks a bit spammy/ link-building…
But since I do agree with the comment, I have published it. True, some small business owners publish a website, think they’ve done all they can to move into the future of online business, and then they are surprised when floods of new customers DON’T come knocking down the door.
When it comes to small business owners, and being a marketing professional, you can tend to spend most of your time being an educator, basically teaching how things work, and why they should work that way.
I had a quick look at your website – I think it must be still under construction, as a lot of the internal links don’t work. And where’s the social media integration? I think it’s important to set an example for small businesses…
RT @abnormalmarket: Marketing Options for Small Businesses http://www.abnormalmarketing.com/2010/06… @jeanettecates #blog30
In terms of working with a marketing consultant, another thing a small business owner can do is instead use their network or even build a network. Talk to other small business owners who have been successful at launching their business and ask for their assistance. Most people would be more than happy to guide you. Join forums for entrepreneurs or small business owners. Instead of having to pay a pricey consultant, just soak up the environment you’re in and take advantage of the opportunities you can create as well.
Mandy June´s last [type] ..Is It Safe to Start Trusting Banks Again
Twitter: abnormalmarket
September 5, 2010 at 11:36 am | Permalink
@Mandy June, Hi Mandy, Thanks for your feedback. I guess this suggestion comes under “DIY”, and is great advice for small business owners on a budget.
Regardless of whether it’s about marketing, I think it is healthy for small business owners to join forums and communities and network with other business professionals.
A Marketing Consultant may be seen as “pricey” by start-ups or new businesses, but a lot of these consultants are worth their weight in gold in terms of the services they provide and the outcomes they produce. They can help business owners build their business marketing faster and more efficiently than doing it alone. And most importantly – set up systems, promotions and strategies to get the business the customers they need.
The most successful businesses have a team of experts around them, doing the parts of the business that the owner may not specialise in, so that they can get their job done. They have lawyers to handle the legal stuff, and accountants to handle the financial stuff, so it makes a lot of sense to get a marketing professional to handle the customer-acquisition and retention stuff.
Excellent suggestion Mandy