As I talk about success throughout this month, marketing is going to come up over and over again. I believe that small businesses simply don’t focus enough attention on it. But before I start singing the praises of marketing, perhaps I should answer the question, is more marketing really the answer?

Not a Simple Answer

As with all simple questions, this one has a complex answer. Can increased marketing lead to more success at your small business? Yes, it can. Is it a cure-all to get you out of financial funk and to profitable success? No, it is not. The short answer is that you need marketing as one part of your strategy for success. Without good marketing systems, you can never really grow your business at any kind of scale. What that means is that without marketing you have to rely on the power of one to grow your business. Whether it be one salesperson to book a sale, or one customer who just happens to tell a friend about you, or one presentation that you do at a local conference. Marketing, on the other hand, thrives on the power of many. This means your message is getting out to a group of people all at once, and perhaps even going viral within that group as they spread your message for you to many more. So you can’t ignore marketing.

Not Just Marketing, Good Marketing

At the same time, you can’t just take an ad out in your local paper and expect it to generate sales. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. You can spend a lot of money for very little to no return on investment. As a responsible small business owner, you don’t want to do that. The word marketing covers a wide swath of ideas and applications. If you are going to use marketing as part of your success strategy, you have a responsibility to find the method or methods that will bring in the most return on investment. Once you find good marketing methods, you should stick with them and invest money to improve them. For instance, if you find a direct letter works pretty well, spend some money on a copy writer to improve your letter so that it converts even better.

You Need More for Success

While good marketing will indeed bring new leads and sales to your business, that is not all you need for success. Success isn’t just measured by the number of sales you get. You also need to focus on other areas of your business. This includes having a good engine within your business to handle growth. It also includes having a focus on profit over sales. You may need to tweak things to get a maximum profit. Other success factors to consider are customer and employee satisfaction, personal satisfaction, your exit plan, and maximizing current potential.

The point is, success is a package. Marketing is a tool that helps your business grow. But you wouldn’t waste a lot of time watering your sidewalk, hoping tulips will spring up. You need a well tilled plot of land, and the seeds to make things grow. Add a good marketing plan to that, and you will see growth and be well on your way to success.

Marketing is Part of the Plan

So, marketing is not the end all and be all. But it is a part of the plan and you can’t ignore it. You need to start experimenting with marketing. Spend money on it. When you find something that works, every dollar your spend will be bringing back more than a dollar in profit. When that happens, you will want to spend as many dollars as you can. Before you do that, make sure you have the infrastructure to support real growth. Your house had better be in order before you add waves of new business. Otherwise they will bring your business crashing down around you.

What are your thoughts? How much do you rely on marketing? What has worked for you? What hasn’t?

photo credit: Dennis Goedegebuure

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Bradford Shimp helps small business create online success strategies at BroadRiverCreative.com