Why Marketing Is A Must-Have For Small Business Growth

There are approximately 33 million¹ small businesses in the U.S., and the average lifespan of a small business is 8.5 years². Imagine that your dream ends in less than a decade after putting your blood, sweat, and tears into a business.

One of the reasons small businesses fail is not correctly investing in marketing. Nearly half of all small businesses handle their campaigns independently. They also spend less than two hours per week on marketing efforts, which is insufficient to sustain growth.

Many small businesses begin with a customer or two and grow organically with referrals. This model isn’t wrong to start, but I have observed that those businesses don’t focus on marketing as they grow. Common reasons I’ve heard include, “We’re growing with current customers and referrals and don’t need to invest in marketing,” “I have to run the business and don’t have time for marketing,” and “Marketing is too expensive.” And so on. Business owners who use these excuses are no longer in business or barely hanging on.

Marketing is why people drink Coke, wear Nike shoes, eat at Mcdonald’s, wash with Ivory Soap, drive a Toyota, and diaper their kids in Pampers. These brands invest in nearly every form of marketing. For example, according to the trade organization Internet Advertising Bureau podcasting ad revenues are set to exceed $2B in 2023. Podcasting. Not TV, Google Ads, or other forms of marketing – Podcasting. My point? Investments that large aren’t made without results. Brands and businesses are built on and grow due to continued investment in marketing.

The good news is that you don’t have to invest what big brands invest, nor do you need to use “every form of marketing.” You must have an area marketing plan and a dedicated budget. Employees can create and implement strategies or be outsourced to a contractor or agency.

A competent marketer can guide you on how much to budget and what, at a minimum, needs to be included in your plan. I highlighted you to draw attention to the fact that while there are accepted best practices in marketing, and those that work well for each type of business, your goals, your target audience, and your region are crucial to consider when developing a plan, so don’t let a resource give you a cookie cutter plan and expect that to achieve your desired results.

Whether your marketing is executed internally or externally, somebody in your company has to direct and interact with those resources. A common misconception small business owners have is that those resources do it all when they outsource their marketing. On the contrary, competent and experienced resources seek direction, input, and approvals from the business before they finalize or execute plans. This is in the business’s best interest, as I can tell you from experience that marketing efforts fail when the business isn’t engaged. And this leads to those business owners proclaiming that they tried marketing, which didn’t work.

At a minimum, small businesses need to devote time and budget to marketing to; generate awareness of who they are and what they do, generate leads from prospective customers, and enable salespeople to turn leads into customers. This can be done efficiently and cost-effectively with a competent marketing resource directed and managed by a resource in your business.