After nearly 40 years in the marketing agency business, we have heard a multitude of myths as to why marketing ‘cannot’ effectively be done by small businesses or even large corporations with minimal marketing budgets. If you fall into one of those categories, take a breather and continue reading; there is a light at the end of the tunnel and a world of potential ahead!

Myth 1:

Marketing is not effective with the budget that my company can afford. 

While it is true that some marketing goals are a challenge under certain budget limitations, there is one approach that almost always proves to be effective.

 1) Advertising-to-Sales (A2S) Ratio is used to determine how effective your company’s marketing strategies are in relevance to the amount of revenue generated. A low ratio, of course, is preferable to the profitability of the company, but should be established based on industry, market conditions and the current sales revenue as a benchmark.

The formula looks like this: A2S Ratio = Total Ad Expenses / Sales Revenue. The general rule of thumb is to allocate between 6 – 8% of gross revenue to marketing and advertising.

2) Knowing Your Audience helps to streamline both the media placement and the creative messaging. These two variables should work together to produce the highest possible conversion rate. Too many times, small businesses or corporations do not focus on these variables equally and this oversight leads to guaranteed loss in net earnings.

3) Make sure to seek the professional marketing advice of an expert to determine whether you can effectively and successfully proceed with a marketing or advertising plan. Don’t be misled by marketing representatives who do not consider the big picture of your marketing and advertising efforts.

Myth 2:

My business is doing well; I can allocate little funding, if at all, and still be fine.

Let’s break this one down. What are you really saying to the market about your business with this approach? As the old saying goes, you can put minimal effort into anything; but expect minimal results from everything. When marketing your business, it’s important to choose whether or not you’re ready to be all in or not in at all. If you’re spending ad dollars here and there, it is likely that those dollars – spent without any specified direction and/or purpose –  are likely to be dollars wasted. Businesses that decide not to market consistently to their customer will find that other businesses, willing to move forward with a strategy, will fill your void and market to your customer for you. So, when considering a marketing strategy for your business, give us a call. The value of professional expertise and an unbiased approach to best practices for your business is insurmountable.

Myth 3:

Free design services from my media vendors saves me money on marketing.

All of us in business know well that everything free comes with a price! When small businesses or large corporations trust their brand and brand messaging to the different designers on staff with media vendors (print publications, billboard companies, media outlets, etc.), they are effectively saying that they do not hold the value of their brand at its highest worth. It is not that the designers on staff with third-party vendors are not talented or skilled at what they do; simply put, they do not have your brand equity at the core of their efforts because they are only producing one small part of the bigger picture.  Thus, continuity in your branding is lacking. It is critical for your brand to be consistent in presentation – not most of the time, but every time – and with purposed messaging for the best possible repetition and recall results. Marketing agencies serve as gatekeepers of your brand’s identity and how it is presented to the market, vetting through every element of your presentation and eliminating any possibility for misrepresentation. The one-stop shop process of a marketing agency creates a warehouse of all things crucial to your brand and always keeps the tools in the toolbox where they can be found when it’s time to build on your equity and market share.

Myth 4:

I can market my business off and on and be just as effective, because it takes too long and costs too much money to run consistently and see return on the investment.

If this is where your head is, let us warn you: your marketing strategy could be defective from the very start. There are so many variable opportunities in marketing your business that it can be daunting to determine whether to pursue fast results or a slow burn. Making that choice boils down to getting in tune with what your company is trying to accomplish with marketing. Is it brand loyalty, immediate traffic results, larger market share, different target audience appeal? The list goes on! The marketing tools and message strategies used should be determined by what the end goal is. For example, if brand loyalty is your goal, this is a slow burn process. It likely starts with your base customer and builds from there through marketing tactics such as loyalty programs effectively deployed to your customer for easy access to your brand and positive results for engagement and revenue investments.  If your goal is more immediate traffic to either your website or social platforms; then a faster, more direct and repetitive push with targeted call-to-action messaging is imperative. The toolbox for this type of effort includes SEO, digital and social marketing, and even custom app development.

Myth 5:

No news is good news. 

This saying is certainly true with regard to a long list of things in life, but in marketing and advertising it just means that your brand could be on the cusp of irrelevance. The absolute key to building recognition in your brand equity is to be seen and be seen in the right light by the right people. As a business, you need to craft your brand identity in a quality manner that consistently generates attention from your ideal audience. When successfully implemented, targeted marketing gives you the opportunity to build a relationship with your audience, which is always good news, but also a reminder: relationships, much like marketing, are steady. Silence is deadly in any relationship and marketing to your audience is no different. If they are not hearing from you with frequency, consistency and relevance; your business, product and services will be out of sight and soon, out of mind.