Considering that we spend so much time in the field, sleeves rolled up, toiling day in and day out, trying to build our business – it is surprising then that we dont always want to take full responsibility to market our business. In the beginning we put it off to the fact that we are not big enough, dont have the marketing expertise or the budget to market our business. When the business grows bigger, we ship it off to the first marketing agency that comes along.
If you do not want to market your business yourself, you need to ask yourself the question “Why? Why don’t I want to do it?” Is it because you dont know what you are doing? Well then i will let you in on a little secret. You are not alone. Many of the business owners that i speak to who are just starting out (and even some established ones) think that they need to hire the responsibility to someone else. Someone who knows more about marketing than they do. Someone with experience.
But you cannot afford to do that. You can’t afford to leave the marketing of your business to others.
You must take responsibility for the marketing yourself.
Why You Are Responsible for Marketing Your Small Business
- No one knows your product better than you do. Let us say that you have children. No one would know them better than you do. You would not delegate bringing them up to someone else would you? The same with your business/product/service. Even if you can afford to hire a marketing firm, they will never know your product as well as you do. They will never hae the nuts-and-bolts knowledge of your products the way that you do.
- No one (and especially not the marketing agency) is as passionate about your product as you are. Your business,your product/your service is your baby, your labour. Do you think that someone else will care about your product more than you? personally i highly doubt it. You were the one that took months, maybe even years to develop your business. You were the one that kept on toiling when everyone around you (including that voice inside your head) told you were totally looney! You were the one that was rejected over and over again. But despite all the obstacles in your way, you were like the Energizer Bunny that kept on going and going. Why? Love is the reason why. You and you alone were passionate about your product or service or business. You just had to share it with the world/
- You risk it all. If your product or your business fails, the marketing agency and its employees who handle your account will just shrug their shoulders, say sorry, and go on to the next project. The distributors will just fill up the product slot with someone else’s product. You might think that, that is harsh. It is not. They are just spreading their bets across a portfolio of projects. However with you, it is different. Your fortune, will rise or come crashing down to earth on the success of your business. You succeed and you reap the rewards of your hard work. You fail, and you suffer the consequences! No one else but your career is on the line.
- If you don’t do it. No one else will.
This is why you as the business owner must take full and final responsibility for marketing your products. Do not let someone else babysit your baby. Take responsibility for your own success and invite others to join you in your endeavour.
Like me, you need to be the Chief Marketing Officer.
What is the one thing that you can do today that you have learnt from this post?
For any thoughts, comments or questions send Yaseen Dadabhay an email at [email protected]