.png)
“No sales. No company.” says Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball club. Sales no doubt are the foundation of the profitability of a business and play a huge role in determining the growth and success of a business. Sales bring in revenue, which takes care of everyday expenses which a company cannot do without. Without making sales, your business turns into a charitable organization, which is contrary to your plans. It is imperative that everyone in the organization understand how important sales are to the growth and success of the organization, and how they can contribute to this.
“Marketing is Everything”, says Regis McKenna. It is everything a company does consciously or not from the way the receptionist answers calls, to the logo on your letter head, to what your staff put on, to the color of your official vehicles, to the neatness of your environment and more, all to encourage sales. It has gone beyond advertising and PR. Effective and result oriented marketing encompasses areas that also include the quality of your services or products, consumer research; how your salespeople act; how your customer service responds to complaints and inquiries; and more.Many SMEs today struggle because they have diminished the role of marketing in their organizations for years say the Harvard Business Review. They failed to realize that the success of their businesses depend on how well they market their services and products. While selling remains the goal, however, focusing mainly on selling without paying attention to marketing is counterproductive and short-lived. Here are 6 reasons why every SME must take business marketing seriously.
6 Reasons You Should Not Ignore Marketing While Selling
1. Marketing helps build your brand
Marketing reinforces your brand. Your brand helps your business to stand apart from competitors. It goes beyond having a logo, website and more. It is what differentiates your business among other competitors. It is the totality of how your company is perceived by customers and prospects. Ignoring marketing is ‘saying’ there is no difference between other companies and yours. It also meanspaying no attention to what gives you a competitive advantage.
A good brand brings in referral; makes it easier to convert prospects to customers. It is easy for people to forget your business, if you ignore marketing your products or services.
2. Marketing helps build trust with consumers
“People share, read and generally engage more with any type of content when it’s surfaced through friends and people they know and trust.”
– Malorie Lucich – Head of Product PR (Pinterest)
People generally have confidence buying from companies whose products or services they trust. Effective marketing makes it easier for consumersto know your product or service and buy from you. The more consumers know your product, the more they would want to trust and buy from you. Building trust in a product takes time and is enhanced through marketing, but ignoring marketing makes this unachievable.
3. Marketing helps your business make more sales Marketing makes it easier for your organization to sell your products or services. The goal of any business is to make sales which translate to revenue and marketing is acritical channel of achieving this goal. According to the Harvard Business School, an organization can add better value to its customer experience by a better understanding of their needs and offering them innovative services and products that meet those needs, which invariably translates into more sales and greater customer satisfaction.
Marketing more than any other thing drives sales; ignoring marketing could make a business extinct. Having the best product or offering an exceptional service become worthless if people do not know about the products or services. SME owners constantly need to think out of the box on how they can offer products or services that provide a better experience to customers that would encourage them to a purchase.
4. Marketing helps your business engage your customers Customer engagement remains the heart of every successful business; this is especially true for SME businesses. Marketing helps your business to engage your customers with your brand. It is a well-known fact that highly engaged customers show more loyalty, buy more and promote your brand. They serve as your company PR, influencing the decisions of others to patronize your brand based on their experiences. Ignoring marketing is ignoring the need to engage your customers, that would make them less informed about your products or services.
5. Marketing helps secure the future of your business Marketing your business products or services can help secure the future of your business. Both your current customers and prospects benefit from your marketing. It helps retain your existing customers and convert prospects into customers. Many companies are leveraging on the World Wide Web to promote their businesses and reach a wider audience beyond the shore of their locations. With the use of social media and email campaigns, SMEs can keep prospects and customers informed on the latest developments on their products or services that would provide a better user experience. Ignoring marketing is limiting your growth.
6. Marketing helps your business increase its awareness Successful companies never stop marketing. When an organization ignores marketing, it makes it easy for customers to forget them. Continuous marketing increases your products or services awareness; it keeps your brand, products, and benefits in the mind of the customers. By engaging in marketing, your company can build a large audience of potential customers, already armed with the knowledge of your brand, products, services and more.
Bringing it Home
Brian Sher, in his book, “What Rich People Know & Desperately Want to Keep Secret”, says marketing is one of the four things that can set your company apart. The business place is no doubt highly competitive, that makes ignoring marketing while selling a very risky proposition. Both small and large organizations compete for customers’ attention and market share for their products and services. Relegating or ignoring the role of marketing in your organization would eventually lead to poor sales, poor customer satisfaction and ultimately loss of goodwill.
