While the fact remains that hiring a marketing or a creative agency might make things easier, it also remains that not everyone can afford a top-notch, even more importantly – an expensive firm to bring their entrepreneurship into the commercial world. This is especially true for the small businesses or those that have yet to flourish. So plenty of non-corporate newcomers to the world of business opts for promoting their own work.
Small Business Benefits of DIY Marketing
If you’re running a smaller business, the DIY marketing won’t do any harm. In fact, it may even fall into the category of ‘cute’ in your potential customers’ eyes. Add a bit of professional flavor to the mix of your amateur charm, interactive internet apps and Facebook pages and you’re likely to impress your future consumers.
While most companies that dream big start with newspaper and billboard advertising, only to integrate themselves into social media when their trade mark picks up, the benefit of self-orchestrated marketing in smaller businesses lies in the fact that you can start with free, yet omnipresent services in forms of social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and the like.
Remember – unlike corporate figures, your everyday Average Joe or Jane is likely to favor the underdog and give you a chance to impress them with the obvious innocence of your business.
Planning and Setting Your Own Marketing Model
Always have a core message of your business to relate and refer to. Getting it down to a couple of key statements that make your company unique may take some time, so start thinking about the strategies you need to incorporate in order to get your message across.
Create a blog page on your main website in addition to the social media profiles, for the latter are far from enough. Try adding a few content pieces to it each week and remember that these pieces need to follow the mentioned core message, in order to simply make sense and bring you benefit.
Dangers of DIY Marketing
Let’s face it – big marketing companies aren’t there just because people are too lazy to do the promoting on their own, there’s way more to this. In fact, even if you are already familiar with most of the tactics the big ones use (and trust me, you’re not), the fact remains that it’s not all about knowing. Being fully aware of all the rules of basketball doesn’t bring one even close to going NBA. I.e. more than three quarters of tackling a skill is expertise and experience.
A business owner is always biased towards his own ideas and creations. Whatever you think might bring you marketing benfit, you can try and go with it. Start small, with resources which won’t take a lot of time nor money. Important is to stand out from the crowd. Leaflets may be cheap, but their life span is short. Take for example these personalised drink bottles from Source Direct, as their design is appealing, they are convenient to have with you, and are useful, as opposed to mentioned leaflets.
Never underestimate the power of formulae, as there’s a reason for those still being around. Sometimes playing it safe is the best way to swim in the shark-infested waters of the harsh world of business. Furthermore, having a knack for business doesn’t necessarily mean talent in marketing, and this is why companies that specialize solely in marketing are still around – to help you get the word across and avoid monetary loss.
