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Written By The Art of Business Content Team
As a business owner, you probably know about the importance of sales and marketing. Let’s face it—you’re not going very far without making a profit! But where many entrepreneurs and business owners make mistakes is when they decide to handle their marketing strategies themselves. Sure, this can save money upfront, but if you or your team don’t have the expertise to create and implement a strategy that leads to sales, then it can cost you dearly in the long run.
That’s where professionals come in. By making the upfront investment in professional marketing services, you can position your company to reach the next level and ultimately make more money. The Art of Business has provided some practical information and advice for any business owners out there who want to learn more about how marketing professionals can benefit their company.
In case you haven’t looked into the intricacies of marketing for businesses, know that it is extremely complex. There are many moving parts when it comes to promoting a brand, and to do it successfully requires you to implement an effective strategy that involves many smaller strategies within it. In other words, marketing is a very broad area—no matter what type of business you run.
Sales and marketing are often couples together because you can rarely have one without the other. In its purest form, a successful marketing strategy will ultimately lead to conversions and sales. And as long as you have a quality product or service, as you begin to sell more, it will naturally result in word-of-mouth marketing. That is why it is so important to create an excellent overall customer experience; when your customers are on your side, it will go a long way in helping you establish a reputation in the industry.
As you can imagine, developing and implementing a marketing strategy that builds your brand identity and increases sales will consume a lot of your time, whether you run a micro-business, a larger corporation, or anything in between. Marketing involves creating a logo and choosing fonts, colours, and other design elements you want to be associated with your brand. It means building an easy-to-navigate website that engages your audience and creating content that educates and persuades people to buy from your business.
Successful marketing requires you to determine how to use various advertising channels to your benefit, including paid advertising, social media, email marketing, print marketing, and many more. And this is just the beginning!
Some entrepreneurs and small businesses choose to handle marketing themselves, primarily because it can save them on upfront costs. But as we discussed, the complexities of developing and enacting an effective marketing strategy require a lot of time, energy, and resources. And if your in-house team is not equipped, chances are you will never reach your sales and marketing goals without outside help. After all, you have a business to run and you don’t want anyone area to consume all of your time and distract you from your overarching vision.
There are professionals that can help you in virtually every area of marketing. You can hire a social media manager, an email marketing specialist, a public relations specialist, and many other types of professionals who do these types of work day in and day out. And when you consider how outsourcing your marketing can push your business forward in significant ways, it’s easy to see how it can save you money in the long run, not to mention relieve a lot of stress for you and your team.
When it comes to getting your marketing strategy together, another option is to figure out what tasks and projects your team can handle and to explore off-the-shelf services or products that can help them work more efficiently. For instance, many website platforms are specifically designed to help small business owners create and manage their own sites. By using a hosting platform like Squarespace, WordPress, or GoDaddy, you or a team member might be able to build a beautiful, engaging website and update it regularly with limited expertise.
Some tools can help you promote your brand on social media, software to help you develop email marketing campaigns, and much more. Furthermore, consider off-the-shelf services and products that can help you with other areas of your business, such as accounting, project management, and collaboration.
Whatever type of tools you use, however, you must know how to use them; and if your team is learning how to use tools from the ground up, you will need to invest a lot of time. Therefore, you must consider whether or not it is worth purchasing software instead of bringing a professional in to handle it.
Moreover, if you need to incorporate your business—which can give you more flexibility in receiving payments, protect you from liability, and lower your tax rates—you can hire a service for that as well. While many small business owners hire an attorney to form their business entity, you can save money upfront by doing it yourself or going through an online formation service.
You have a few options if you choose to hire professionals for specific tasks and projects. You could hire freelancers, a digital marketing agency, or a full-time employee. There are several perks that come with working with freelancers. For one, you do not have to provide benefits like vacation time, health insurance, and so on. You also have no obligation to factor them into payroll or taxes. And you can pay them by the hour or by the project rather than keeping them on salary when you don’t really need their services.
By working with a digital marketing agency like The Art of Business, you get the expertise of multiple marketing professionals working on your projects. We can take your vision and develop and implement your entire marketing strategy to bring it to fruition. Working with a full-service digital marketing agency can prove the most cost-effective and satisfactory decision for small businesses.
With that said, there are times when hiring a full-time employee might be the way to go. For example, if there is a particular niche or area of your business that needs to be improved, you can benefit from bringing on a staff member to fill that role. Take, for instance, that you grasp the importance of social media marketing, but no one on your team knows how to employ effective strategies. If you find a social media specialist who can dedicate their career to helping your business grow, it might be worth recruiting them. A lot of companies hire freelancers and transition them to full-time employees over time.
Without effective marketing, any business will be hard-pressed to find long-term success. In order to boost sales and sustain healthy profits, your company must either determine how to promote your brand or bring professionals on board to help you do it. Remember the information and advice above as you set out to accomplish your sales and marketing goals. And always remain cognizant of other ways you can position your business to flourish in the years ahead.
Would you like to read more helpful content or learn about our digital marketing services? Visit theartofb.ca today!