Four Reasons Why Small Business Fail To Plan and Why They Need To Think Again
If you’re a small business owner, there’s a good chance that you don’t have an in-house marketing team. After all, unless your business is large enough to support full-time designers and copywriters or you can afford to hire contract workers for these functions when they are needed, your only option is to rely on freelancers who will work with you on a project by project basis. But even if you do work with in-house staff members the majority of the time—or solely depend on freelancers—you should still think through your strategies beforehand and put pen to paper (figuratively speaking) so that everything runs effectively and efficiently.
And yet many small business owners don’t take time pre-plan their marketing efforts. They jump right into the fray and hope for the best, which can wreak havoc on a business’ marketing initiatives if not approached properly.
In order to help you create a successful marketing initiative for your small business, we have shared four reasons why small business fail to plan their efforts before launching a campaign and how this can be avoided.
Reason 1: The Internet is Filled with Information about Marketing
The internet has made information overload a concern for many who want to make sure that they are putting their time and money towards worthwhile projects. And while it’s true that there is much information available online—far more than any one person could possibly take in—this doesn’t mean that you should skip the planning process altogether. In fact, this can actually work to your advantage.
The internet is filled with information about marketing that will help you understand the ins and outs of what it takes to create a successful campaign—and how much it should cost. So if you are strapped for time, any one of the many websites or blogs dedicated to small business marketing can provide you with solid advice without putting too big of a dent in your schedule.
Reason 2: Social Media Makes Marketing Easy
Another reason why small businesses fail to plan their marketing efforts before launch is because they think social media makes launching an effective campaign even easier than it once was. And obviously, there are plenty of benefits associated with using social media as part of your overall strategy—it’s free, easy to use and has a global reach.
However, it’s not a one stop shop for marketing success—you still need to dedicate time and resources to your campaign in order for it to be successful. And while it isn’t always easy to find the time, social media should only be used as a supplement to your core marketing strategy rather than the foundation of your plan. This way you can get more bang for your buck with less work involved.
Reason 3: You Don’t Have Enough Money for Marketing
If you don’t have enough money set aside specifically for marketing, you’re going to have a difficult time finding someone who will help you launch an effective campaign on a budget. But why does this matter? Doesn every small business try and keep their marketing costs down? After all, a successful campaign doesn’t have to cost a lot of money—right?
While it’s true that you don’t need a huge chunk of change set aside for marketing in order for your efforts to be successful, you should invest some funds into your campaign if you want it to succeed. This is because marketers who work on a budget always get the short end of the stick when it comes to their projects—they aren’t given enough time or money with which to create an effective strategy and they are constantly dealing with clients who complain about budgets being too low. It’s no fun from either standpoint.
Reason 4: You’re Afraid to Invest Funds into Marketing
One more reason why small businesses fail to plan their marketing initiatives before launch is because they are afraid to invest funds into it. This may be because you have never done something like this before or maybe you just hate the idea of spending money on your business when you don’t have a lot of it in the first place.
But what good does not investing money into your campaign do for your business? It’s likely that all it will do is keep you from being successful, but there are ways around this problem. You can outsource work to people who want to build their portfolios through working with small businesses—they’ll take less money in exchange for experience and references which should help them in getting future projects.
The Bottom Line
So, there are four reasons why small businesses fail to plan their marketing efforts. These reasons aren’t good enough for you though—that’s why it’s important to take the time to plan your campaign before you launch it. Yes, it takes a lot of work and doesn’t sound like much fun at all, but this is what separates those who are successful from those who are not.
If you’re a small business owner, there’s a good chance that you don’t have an in-house marketing team. After all, unless your business is large enough to support full-time designers and copywriters or you can afford to hire contract workers for these functions when they are needed, your only option is to rely on freelancers…