Marketing 101: Advice for Small Biz

If you've ever spent many years in large corporations, you would become accustomed to the vast resources available. Analysts, technology, subject-matter experts and sizeable budgets are all familiar. However, small business owners are wearing many hats and have limited amounts of money to throw at a problem.

The two major Marketing mistakes I see smaller businesses make is: 1. the lack of real attention to Marketing until business is slow; and 2. they buy into a quick fix that usually doesn't get the results they wanted. The result is a low ROI and a semi-failed project. In addition, their marketing is disjointed and confusing.

Would you get a prescription from the drug store before you go to the doctor? No. The same holds true for Marketing. You can't fix the problem without knowing what is wrong or which medicine is the right one for you. Good Marketing requires a great deal of diagnosis before execution--maybe even some tests.

What is the answer? If you are going to invest in Marketing, make it part of your regular business operations. Make sure you think about multiple strategies and don't just jump into a project without having the most essential elements in place. Finally, make sure that the cheaper solutions will not cost you more down the road.