When Should You Pass the Marketing Torch?

Posted by Chad Coleman
min read
February 21st, 2017

Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day for you to run a business, promote it effectively, and still have a life?

Well, there aren’t. And it’s not because you have to do marketing; it’s because you have to do quality marketing—and quality sure does take time.

Simply put, there are aspects of your core business that need your attention and expertise, and then there are the aspects of your business strategy, such as marketing, that are nagging for more and more from you every day. While you can’t add more hours to the day to take care of both running your business and promoting it, you sure can save time and effort by getting some outside help.

The most important point, however, is to keep in mind that the marketing environment keeps rapidly evolving, so whatever you decide to do, you simply cannot put marketing off.

old fashioned radio

What does marketing a business entail in this day and age, anyway?

It’s the 21st century, and we are well into the age of the consumer. They want you to impress them, to reach out to them, and, most importantly, to be active online like they are: All. The. Time.

Let’s take a trip back in time to the earlier days of the internet...remember when it first became standard to have a website, whether you were selling products online or not? Soon after, companies started to shift their structure to existing mostly online, and now some brands are doing away with the traditional, brick-and-mortar storefront altogether.

While companies were transforming their structure, social media was born. Though it started simply as a way to connect with friends, gradually, another shift occurred: companies jumped on the promotional opportunities of interacting with social media users, and now the companies that don’t yet partake in this strategy are falling behind quickly.

When you think about the sheer number of social media sites, users, hashtags, live events, analytics, and more that needs to be tracked and interacted with, it starts to look like one big, monstrous, overwhelming mess. How are you to compete with the “big dogs” on the internet when you have a business to run and no marketing team to do the hard work for you? Where do you draw the line between attainable and detrimental efforts?

Because customer relationships are now strongly influenced by interactions online, it means businesses need to maintain a constant and carefully crafted online presence. The internet never rests, and speed of responsiveness is interpreted as a sign of how much the company cares about the consumer. Have you ever noticed how Facebook business pages have a company’s response rate above the message option? Every interaction online is too important to be disregarded; however, if that statement leaves you thinking, “well, in that case I’m screwed,” then you’re in the right place.

Let’s parse out the essentials from the extras of digital marketing to determine if it’s time for you to pass the marketing torch.

How to determine whether to pass the torch

The biggest barriers to running an effective online marketing strategy as a business owner is the shortage of two important resources: time and money. Beyond just the most obvious, however, there are many other factors to consider. If after reading them, you still find yourself doubting the necessity of being online, just remember: it’s still better to outsource your marketing efforts than to skip them altogether.

old clock with digital numbers that flip when counted like used for scorekeeping

Time

Sure, you have some time, but it takes a lot of time and attentiveness to truly achieve the optimal effect online—there simply are no shortcuts. So, the question you have to ask yourself honestly and realistically is, “do you really have time, or do you just have enough time for the bare minimum?”

Although the bare minimum is sure to get you somewhere, it may be a higher risk to do just a little marketing and take the risk of users noticing that you are only available for a short time in a day—less time than you probably dedicate to clients already acquired. While it is important to be attentive to existing customers, it’s also beneficial to designate time to attracting more leads to ensure the success—and survival—of your business.

Trying new technology and strategies takes time, trial, and error. So if you’re too busy to take time aside for that, which would entail finding the right tech for your needs, learning how to use it, setting up a trial, measuring results, and going back to refine the process, it looks like your time would be better spent looking for the right person to take on the task for you. The benefits of hiring a professional for the task? More likely than not, they will already have done some of their own experiments to save time and focus more on improvement.

Creating unique and high-quality content is a huge ranking factor for SEO, or search engine optimization. In fact, having a great blog is a fundamental part of a business's website. So, do you have the time, resources, tools, and skills to craft quality blog articles, designs, photos, videos, and more? If the answer is any less than a definite “yes,” you may actually bring more harm than good to your company by promoting it with less-than-optimal content.

Realistically, if you can tell it’s rushed or not top-quality writing, users can too—they see countless examples of good and bad promotional materials while surfing the web, so you probably shouldn’t risk taking any shortcuts to avoid negative response.

metal box filled with and surrounded by hundred dollar bill stacks

Money

When it comes to creating marketing budgets, many business owners find it hard to justify allocating funds to aspects of business promotion, such as digital marketing, when they themselves don’t know enough about the process and benefits. Even worse, imagine if you set aside funds for a marketing budget, but didn’t know how to promote in the best possible way, costing yourself hundreds of dollars and minutes wasted on an unfruitful attempt.

Smaller businesses tend to have fluctuations in cash flow—it’s highly unlikely that you have a solid marketing budget on deck regardless of how your company is doing at any given time, and that’s okay. Even starting with a small, well-planned campaign is more useful than skipping the idea altogether.

So, how do you know what percentage of your gross revenue to dedicate to marketing? There are a few factors to consider, and ultimately, there are no strict rules—it depends on how much you want to fuel your marketing efforts.

In a new business, experts suggest a strong, even aggressive marketing approach that is funded by upwards of 12 to 20 percent of gross revenue. When you consider that a new business is virtually unknown to the rest of the world, it makes sense to up the ante and get a foot in the door of establishing a strong online presence.

Older businesses can back down on the marketing efforts and allocate about 6 to 12 percent of gross revenue. If you look at the big picture, this is still a large sum of money to put on the line as a business—that’s where having a professional marketer to ensure a higher rate of success comes in handy.

While it takes money to get your marketing up and running, don’t think of it as a cost: the budget you allocate to marketing is your biggest investment. If you hire the right firm, and they successfully promote your business, marketing is essentially free because of the positive long-term effects you can expect when done well. If you ask experts about which department is the most important to fund, many will declare "marketing" without hesitation. Why? It’s your way to tell your story, find your people, and grow your company—all the while making you more money.

notebook and pen with list of do to items reading wake up coffee and then everything else

Goals

There are so many questions to ask yourself that will help determine if you know what it is you want to achieve through online marketing efforts. Here are just a few:

What are you trying to improve with your marketing efforts?

Are your goals SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-sensitive?

Do you have a strategy already that you know you want to try?

What analytics will you be specifically measuring?

How much growth are you aiming for, and in what areas or platforms?

These are just the first of many more, but if your answer for any of the above is uncertain, it’s a pretty good indication that you could use some help in forming a vision and direction for where you want your company to go as a result of marketing efforts.

stack of books with glasses on top and smart phone laying next to them

Expertise/knowledge

Marketing is an adaptive creature: when the environment of consumers changes, marketers find a better way to tap into it. So, if you’re not keeping up with the changes in marketing, especially on the digital side, you’re sure to fall behind.

Because marketing strategists or consultants dedicate their career to keeping up with the dynamic environment of marketing, you can save yourself the daunting task of catching—or keeping—up by delegating it to someone whose career revolves around staying up-to-date and practically applying it.

vintage coca-cola billboard ad featuring a family of four to celebrate 125 years of business

Integrating old and new

Remember the glorified Mad Men era, where marketing was a matter of putting a good message, complementary image, and logo on a billboard—and watching the money roll in?

Well, those days are long gone, and in fact, many would argue that outbound marketing is almost entirely obsolete. So what do you do when years of radio ads, billboards, and commercials are suddenly are out of commission? Although it takes more time and money, it’s much more efficient to come up with a new strategy that links consistently with the old elements than to try to use a fleeting form of promotion.

If you are thinking to yourself, “I’m not as familiar with new strategies as with old advertising ones,” it may be time to bring in a professional to get you caught up, seamlessly and strategically.

How to cover the marketing basics without help

While juggling a stupendous marketing strategy and running a business sounds like an impossible feat, there are some steps you can take over to have a minimal presence without dedicating all of your time to the effort. This is an alternative option to seeking marketing help for business owners who aren’t quite ready to pass the torch.

Consider how much free time you would be willing to sacrifice in a day—is it fifteen minutes, maybe even an hour? Even the smallest window of time can help you move your business forward on the digital frontier so long as you know what you’re doing. But, there’s a first time for everything, so if it’s your first time tackling digital marketing, let’s start with the basics.

One way you could make the daunting task of doing your company’s marketing is by getting the help of free tools, such as automation softwares and tools for creating content. If that option sounds good enough to you, check out this helpful list of free marketing tools and resources.

While tools help streamline processes and tasks, you still need to be putting your message out there! Even one simple social post per day, be it an original photo or a thoughtful critique of existing content, will show your potential customers that you are keeping up with the times. This minimal strategy is good as a temporary solution, but you’ll find that as your online presence gains momentum in the form of followers, comments, and more, you’ll get overloaded and will have to make a sacrifice in one area or another.

Or, you could skip the sacrifice and outsource the work. Even though this costs money, it's important to think of it as a long-term investment into growing your business for the better.

man in dark suit with focus on thumbs up in the foreground

Benefits to getting help

Here's you gain when you outsource your marketing efforts:

  • More time to dedicate to the core aspects of your business and areas where you excel
  • Trust (and relief) that the marketing strategy is in good, experienced hands
  • Less time divided between keeping up with new digital marketing and attempting to execute a strategy
  • Smooth transition from old forms of promotion to newer ones with minimal waste
  • Solid investment in building strong and loyal customer base 
  • Less stress!

Comments