Are You Taking The Right Approach To Marketing?

Oct 24
10:44

2012

Keith Barrett

Keith Barrett

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I always find it interesting that many small business owners don't appear to believe that marketing is a priority within the business environment. There seems to be an appreciation of the importance of various other tasks, but there's often a limited approach to the world of marketing.

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What this often means is that this subject only really becomes more of a priority once there is a direct problem being faced. Typically,Are You Taking The Right Approach To Marketing? Articles we might see this as being represented by a lack of customers, sales and income. In such situations, there is the sudden need to work out what's going wrong.

How does this work out? The problem with such an approach is that marketing tends to work best when it is planned and is part of an ongoing process. Indeed, it's something that I would suggest needs to be at the very heart of any business. I can certainly see, however, that it may sometimes take a back seat.

The issue here may be that there are plenty of other issues that may appear to be more of a priority. As an example, you may find that you spend a lot of time stepping in to deal with emergencies. Although you may have a number of employees, there's a fair chance that you see your own role as involving some degree of direct activity.

If staff members are attempting to deal with an unhappy customer, for example, then there may be a perception that having the boss available to get involved might ease the situation. This may be true, but you do need to think about the overall balance of the situation. The truth is that getting involved with such tasks means that you won't be carrying out other activities.

It's frequently the case that marketing is classed as one of those other activities and gets left out. What this can mean is that the marketing performance of the business can tend to suffer, having an impact on overall income levels. You may already be aware that this is happening and you can be sure that such a scenario means that you will be losing business to rivals.

If you believe that you have a problem, then there's a fair chance that there is something wrong with your existing marketing strategy. It may be the case that, in theory, you have a sound strategy in place. The problem may be with the manner in which that strategy is actually being implemented. It's hard to identify the problem without sitting down to investigate it further.

Do you need to have a written marketing plan? Although you may not see this as being critical, I certainly find that it can be useful. The danger is that such a plan may be discarded in a drawer or cupboard. It really is vital that this should not happen.

Once you have written a plan, documenting a comprehensive strategy, do make sure that you refer back to it at regularly intervals. You'll want to ensure that you always stay on the right path.


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