3 Marketing Lies Small-Business Owners Tell Themselves

One of the most common misconceptions is thinking that marketing increases your expenses than revenues –it doesn’t! If you dig deeper into the context of marketing, you will realize that almost all the businesses that thrived utilized marketing wisely. Unfortunately, small business owners don’t realize the essence of marketing, and they lie to themselves to put off marketing.

Even for a startup, marketing can do wonders if done right. However, to understand the truth behind marketing, you need to give up on the lies that you’ve been feeding yourself with. This is why “self-talk” in business is crucial. You will not realize the destructiveness of your ideas until they ruin your business. But now, let’s talk about 3 marketing lies that you’ve been telling yourself as a small business owner.

Why do Small Businesses fail to Prosper?

Small businesses have several opportunities that they can seize, but they don’t. It’s often brushed under the carpet, assuming it will increase the cost of running the business. But, stats and studies say otherwise. We are going to discuss the major lies that we often come across.

1. They don’t believe marketing is essential

The most common misconception is that small business owners tend to assume that marketing is not their cup of tea/coffee. It might not be your cup of tea/coffee in your point of view but according to experts and those who have utilized digital marketing, it’s crucial. Although your business is small, it needs brand promotion because without people knowing that you exist, how can your revenue increase?

It’s instinctual to assume that marketing a small business is nothing but a costly addition to the budget. Small business owners have the habit of drawing locals’ attention and then wait for word-of-mouth marketing to do its job. The grassroots marketing techniques are effective, and we don’t deny it, but it’s just not enough on its own.

The lie these owners tell themselves is that they have created their customer base through costless marketing techniques, and now they can relax. They assume that their brand has received its recognition. Since these marketing techniques provide some level of success, small business owners assume that marketing is not as fancy as other businesses claim.

Even though you have created your customer base, you need to understand that there’s more to it. It’s important to let the world know that your brand exists and it’s ready to cater to its market. To make this happen, you need quality marketing, and you cannot enjoy quality marketing without investing in successful marketing techniques. Many startups that could have succeeded failed miserably because of not utilizing marketing and advertising wisely.

You need to set aside a budget that will help your brand to outreach. In this digital era, you don’t need to worry about getting the maximum for your budget because there are many methods to maximize your marketing effort. You can consider Facebook Ads, Webinars, Google My Business, Free promotions, content marketing, and business referrals.

2. They don’t understand the difference created through marketing

Before we talk about why small business owners don’t understand the difference, let’s see an example. If you invest your money in something, you need to keep track of the ROI. If you don’t, you will not know whether the investment you made is profitable or not. This is exactly what most businesses do.

If someone subscribes to your newsletter, it’s an action taken by the potential customer. If they are sharing your content on social media, it’s an action taken. All these actions are triggered by marketing. But one thing that doesn’t settle right is that businesses assume these CTAs don’t make much difference.

This assumption persists because of not keeping track of marketing performance. A survey found out that a higher percentage of small businesses don’t track their digital marketing ROI. They either miscalculate or spend more money on promotional outlets that bring no returns.

Small business owners need to look deeper into marketing rather than just ignoring it altogether because they believe it doesn’t make any difference. It’s important to make informed decisions when a business wants to thrive. You wouldn’t employ someone who doesn’t fit your business or who doesn’t contribute to your business’s success.

In fact, you might hire someone else for the position. Similarly, if you find that certain digital marketing techniques don’t benefit your business, you must find other alternatives.

If you want to enjoy digital marketing benefits, you need to know where your marketing performance is at. By tracking the ROI, you will understand the areas and approaches that you must refine. You can’t make excuses when you live in a digitized world because many automated tools today can help you track ROI. You can utilize, Infusionsoft, GetResponse, Marketo, Mailchimp, and HubSpot to know where your marketing effort is at.

3. They believe only in quality marketing

Sometimes you realize that your small business needs marketing, and you understand the benefits marketing will bring your business. But now you think you need quality-marketing, on the level of all those big companies. It’s illogical to spend so much when your business is small. However, two cost-effective options that small business owners can consider are:

• Hiring a local marketer- small businesses have this emotional connection with other small businesses, so it’s okay to hire a local marketer to do your marketing. You might find several options as per your needs. If you are a Sri Lankan small business owner, you might also find Inbound Hype as your go-to company for marketing.
• DIY marketing- you can consider DIY marketing as well because there are many free tutorials on YouTube and blogs available now to educate you. But there could be a few drawbacks in doing this if you have no prior experience in marketing.

Take-Through

You can lie to yourself that you need quality-marketing from the best firms in the world to prosper in business, but that’s not true. Even a local agency can market your business to increase your revenue. But for that, you need to make a vigilant investment. You need to hire a good marketing agency like Inbound Hype to meet your company’s demands without making you regret the money you invested.