Let’s cut to the chase: for your business to merely exist in 2019 and beyond, marketing your business through traditional means (and with traditional thinking) is no longer optional.
To grow your business, you MUST reach out to your target audience and tell your story. But to do so, you have to devote both time and money to your marketing efforts. Which are two things small- and medium-sized often find in short supply.
And, unfortunately, because time and money are such valuable resources, some business owners feel think they are actually saving in the long run by NOT promoting themselves and their business.
However, there is a real cost when you fail to market your business.
Loss In Market Share
Just because you choose not to market your business, that doesn’t mean your competitors are following your lead. Instead, they?re telling their story, attracting new customers, and taking over the share of the market that could have been yours.
If you are not promoting your business and securing your share of the market, you risk losing your place and eventually being pushed out.
Allowing Others to Define Your Business
As I mentioned earlier, marketing your business gives you the chance to tell your story. It is your opportunity to let your target audience know how you are uniquely qualified to address their pain points and connect with them on a deeper level.
When you do not market your business, the true story goes untold. Worse, others may choose to define your business for you. It could be your competitors saying they are the better option with no rebuttal from you, or it may even be your customers by way of negative reviews.
What Makes You Special
Another aspect of marketing your business is hyping your unique value proposition, or UVP. Your UVP is what makes your business special. It is the one thing that your customers can only get from you.
If you do not promote your business, it is tough for your business to stand out from your competitors. You begin to look like everyone else, which means no one feels incentivized to go to you for help addressing their pain point(s).
The Motivation Of Your Staff
If you have a team of people working for you, then you rely on them to keep your business going. Marketing puts your business in a condition to grow and make your team?s work feel that much more valuable.
As your business grows, your team begins to see the fruits of their labor manifest in more business, potential career advancements, and an increase in salary and opportunity. This keeps your staff motivated.
Not marketing your business, on the other hand, generally results in a lack of sales, which in turn results in downsizing of the business and team. Gone are the potential raises and career opportunities and with it your staffs? motivations.
Lost Opportunity
This last cost may be the most insidious cost of them all because there is no way to measure it. When you make the decision to NOT promote your business, then you are deciding to not reach out to individuals who could potentially benefit from your products/services.
This means you do not have the opportunity to wow them, to convince them to come back and tell their friends. And because there is no way to measure what is not there, you cannot tell where the opportunity was lost.
Marketing your business does not guarantee success, but NOT marketing significantly increases the likelihood that your business won?t succeed. Think of the potential life-long customers or really big clients that you may lose because you made the decision to save some money and time by not promoting your business. Now weigh that against investing a little time and money in your business and the potential opportunities that are out there.
The decision to market your business becomes a lot clearer.
