All businesses are in the business of marketing
The ugly truth about digital marketing for a new business
It’s easy to give people hope about their business growth – but the truth is that it has become extraordinarily difficult to compete in today’s market. Marketing has become a walk in the park they say, that’s why it’s become very important to do it better than others. Everyone has access to everyone, so what makes your business special?
We’re all in the same business | MARKETING | In fact, all businesses are now into a business of marketing. You attract buyers by making them believe your product or service is better than your competitions. Flawless products can do better or worse than their competitors in the real world based on how they are perceived by consumers. Unfortunately, consumers are too busy solving life problems. They hardly find time to dive deep into the details of most things they purchase. They believe in highly exaggerated advertising and base their buying decisions on blogs and articles funded by manufacturers. We make important life choices based on very little information. So what options do we have? Here’s some ugly facts first, and later some recommendations.
UGLY TRUTH #1
UGLY TRUTH #2
Your branding will become obsolete fast. And you may need to change your design over and again to keep up with changing design and technology trends.
UGLY TRUTH #3
Websites made on WordPress or Shopify are great help, no doubt. They have significantly knocked-off the cost of having a website. Now it is within reach of a low budget Startup to have an attractive website. However, these websites are useless if no one’s visiting them. And how do we get website hits? The affordable answer is DIGITAL MARKETING. But wait, go back to Ugly Truth #1.
According to Bragg Media without a solid marketing strategy, businesses won’t thrive. So get ready for some serious spending. Mediums like Facebook and YouTube showcase success stories of people who made something out of nothing. That’s their marketing strategy to attract more customers who are willing to pay for trying out this new form of russian roulette.
We are quick to get inspired by stories of people who win lotteries or become millionaires by going casino, or are an overnight social media sensation. These stories are highly exaggerated, a complete lie or incomplete as most of these victories are short lived. Sustainable business requires a lot more than what most people imagine.
UGLY TRUTH #4
You have no vision or clarity about your content strategy. And the learning curve can be more costly than you can take. Most first time entrepreneurs will tryout something without a plan. Which might be the case with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs too. However what makes them different is they worked hard, had goals and didn’t give up, while most first time entrepreneurs will.
If you start without a digital strategy, you’re likely to end-up exhausted, unrewarded and broke. Business to business community believes that a lack of planning can result in ill-prepared successors and strained relationships between those who are and those who are not involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.
This includes your content strategy for digital marketing. New business owners get inspired on a daily basis. Every new idea looks better than that last one. And hence it becomes a challenge to pick and choose the best content strategy. To post or not to post daily- what color and fonts to use? These ideas evolve constantly in a fresh entrepreneur’s head. And lack of decision making can lead them to a brick wall of endless possibilities. Moreover, constant changes may cost a lot in terms of design and development bills and lost time.
A BETTER WAY
The goal here is anything but to discourage you. We need to understand that the digital world has made marketing easy in a way. Having mere digital presence is no longer an advantage it once was. You need to work and standout to be noticed. If your competition is doing it too, then you just need to do better.
Have a marketing plan
Be optimistic and have a marketing plan – write ideas down and share with those willing to help. Choose a content strategy and stick to it. You will be tempted to change your strategy along the way. You will see better plans while surfing the internet and will immediately want to implement them. Ignore this temptation and focus on what you initially decided. It’s like going to the gym. On your Chest day you see a well built person doing a leg workout and you instantly want to do legs now. And that’s when you stop getting the right results. Like Arnold puts it without a goal, you will drift around and never get to where you want to go. The same goes for your marketing strategy. Temptation is your enemy. Learn to beat it.
Be patient
Be patient and keep your expectations realistic. Rome was not built in a day. Your business will take its time as well. One of the largest internet companies in the world, ToCows coolly says we’re an overnight success story 25 years in the making. Give yourself a few years to become a self-sustaining business.
Work hard and spend sensibly
Spending too much money is a problem, but spending too little is too. If you overspend your funds will burn fast. But if you underspend on marketing, then you may not get the desired result – You can put in the hours to save some money, or you can pay an expert to do it for you. Those are the choices you have. There is no right or wrong way of thinking about it. Both approaches are correct depending on your life situation, skill set, and amount of time and money you have. So, plan on how to spend and select a great team to work with. Usually a better team has a higher dollar rate. However, it pays off.
The bottom line is
We’re all capable of being successful. Thanks to digital media, we now have the marketing tools too. But since everyone is using the same tools, we’re at no real advantage. We have to work harder, smarter, better and faster to beat our competition. Selecting the right people and being patient with them is crucial. And don’t forget, “You need to spend money to make money”.
