Whether you are a corporate giant like Apple, a small business owner with a team of 20, or an individual professional going it alone, Marketing Matters.

One of the biggest mistakes I see small businesses make is thinking they don’t need to focus on marketing. But marketing isn’t some glitzy luxury item exclusive to Fortune 500 companies. Marketing is an essential business tool that helps to set a direction and establish goals.

Every business can have good marketing. And every business should.

Marketing isn’t just about spending money on promoting your product and service. It isn’t just about hiring creatives to design fancy logos and brochures.

It’s about having a strong foundation.

It’s about gathering insights. It’s about having a plan. And it is the difference between getting lucky every now and then and knowing how you intend to generate and keep customers.

Why Marketing Matters

Marketing Answers the Who, What and Why

If you cannot clearly articulate who you serve, what it is you provide and why people should choose you over a competitor, how can you expect your customers to know?

Being able to answer these questions is critical to the success of your business.

Good marketers know that the answers to these questions come from Branding. The internal work that is the foundation for everything else you do in your business – from product development to how you interact with customers – and answers the fundamental questions:

• Who your customers really are and what drives them
• What solution your product or service provides for your clients
• Why prospects should choose you over the competition

Think you know how prospects and clients view you and your services? Think again. It is only by actively engaging in the process of branding that we can truly understand our customers to better align what they do think with what we want them to think.

Marketing Gives Voice to Your Customers

Marketing is the only discipline within a company that is primarily focused on customers and advocating for them.

It isn’t just about telling prospects about your business, products or services. It’s also about listening to them. Understanding their needs. Knowing their pain points.

Successful marketers are always looking at the feedback. What works. What doesn’t. And what needs to be changed to get your message, generate leads, and then convert those leads into clients.

By listening to your customers, you’ll gain invaluable insights to help you;

• Develop products and services that meet their needs
• Position your business in a way that will appeal to them
• Find them so you can promote those products and services to them

Customer service agents are a direct link to your customers. For many companie,s their focus centers on answering questions about existing products and services and handling complaints. But if leveraged correctly, they can provide a trove of insights as to what your customers want and what is, or is not, working for them.

If your company does have a person, team or department dedicated to customer service, leverage their knowledge by making sure your marketing team is working in partnership with them.

Marketing Provides a Roadmap

Every business starts with a vision… a goal… a dream. But how do you go from vision to reality?

Marketing is where you set the blueprint for how you present your organization to the market. It’s where you decide what tools and tactics to implement… and how to implement them.

But marketing isn’t simply about execution. It’s about strategy.

Marketing is an indispensable business discipline that helps set a direction for your business, clearly laying out what you want to accomplish and the exact steps you plan to take to make it happen.

“Marketing is food, not medicine… It’s the regular, sustained nourishment that gets your business where you want it—and keeps it there. You need it throughout the day, every day.”  – Forty.co

Marketing isn’t something to focus on solely when there’s a problem. It’s an essential investment into the health and well-being of your business. It’s a discipline that requires regular attention in order to have any meaningful impact.

When you get sick, reaching for a pound of vegetables isn’t going to cure you overnight. But eating a healthy diet every day can certainly help boost your immune system to keep those viruses at bay.

Marketing is the nourishment that sustains your business.

Marketing is the foundation.

Marketing matters.

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Jacqui Genow

Brand & Business Strategist

J. Genow Marketing

Jacqui Genow is the founder and principal of J. Genow Marketing. She works with clients in aligning their brand message, building their marketing roadmap, and helping them stay on track to move their business forward. As a Brand and Business Strategist, her focus goes beyond marketing; making the connections between how marketing decisions made today can impact a client’s business in the future. You can find Jacqui on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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