Simply put, marketing is the backbone of every business. What good is a business if no one knows about it? It is underestimated, under-appreciated and misunderstood – like every essential business function (I’m looking at you, HR & IT).
The kicker is this:
Everyone wants to yell about their business from the rooftops, but rarely are they willing to invest time and money in figuring out what they want to yell about and where best to do it.
At the end of the day, perception is king, and it needs to be managed in a deliberate, but efficient, manner.
To some, marketing is a logo, a website, or a social media channel… And if you’re “some” hold on to your pants because here’s the hard truth.
THAT’S NOT MARKETING.
Marketing is the story you tell, the image you define, and the experience you design to feed a positive perception. It is based on market-specific research, analysis and insights. It’s part science and part art.
All the things you thought were “marketing” are only tools that you use to bring your strategy to life. The cheaper the tool, the harder and more time consuming it is to build your marketing. I’m sure you can come up with your own metaphors here.
Some tools in marketing you can use to build a good foundation are brand development, content creation and digital footprints. There are also the tools that connect directly to promotions, like advertising and pricing structures. These areas work together through an integrated marketing strategy, but they also require their own individual strategies to track and measure success and avoid any pitfalls.
SO, WHY MARKETING?
Because even if you want to shy away from it, it’s the heavy lifting that makes everything else about your business clearer and easier. It’s investing in your own time.
If you have a defined story that is beautifully illustrated and threads through how your customers interact with your business, you’ve just shaved off hours of reinventing the wheel every time a marketing opportunity knocks on your door. How much do you charge per hour? Crack open that calculator…
Investing in marketing means you can own and manage how your are perceived, position yourself for success in a competitive market and give yourself a leg up on all of your competitors who choose to go at it alone. A true advantage.
Let’s work together to figure out how you can develop and build a solid marketing foundation.
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Why Marketing is a marketing consultancy who helps small & medium sized businesses set up a sustainable, scalable, efficient and effective marketing function. The primary goal is to empower entrepreneurs to own their brand. Founder Elena Parial is a Senior Marketing Consultant with over 15 years of B2B, B2C and corporate marketing experience. Being industry-fluid allows her to bring successful strategies to clients who need to look at their marketing differently.