After three days of battling a flu bug, I'm back in action. I'm slogging through emails and did battle with a Facebook hack job this moring. Aw, all in a day's work! On a positive note, I read a great article this morning 7 Business Mistakes You Ought to Avoid by Neil Patel. The flashing neon 'sign' that stood out for me was #3 Good talent costs a pretty penny. He hit the nail on the head -- he goes out of his way to keep good people on his team. These pros may cost him more money, but they are well worth his investment. He brings up another worthwhile point: when you have smart people working for you, you don't have to worry about training or micromanaging them. I absolutely agree!
I wish more business owners and solopreneures would step up to the plate when it comes to hiring professional marketers. Marketing is such a catch-all term and not everyone is a marketer, but if you want to survive in today's market it's important to invest in a dynamic marketing team who knows what they are doing. Marketing goes beyond that quirky advertising exec and it even goes beyond social media tools. Even if you outsource and hire marketing contractors, marketing is a wise investment. If implemented correctly, you will see big returns on your marketing investment.
As a marketing professional, it's frustrating when prospects return my proposals with that dreaded statement: " Too expensive." I'm sure I'm not the only contractor out there who's been rejected because of their price. My rates are competitive and fair. If people don't want to invest in their marketing, that's their perogative and I usually chalk it up that the prospect isn't a good fit for me and doesn't understand or clearly sees the value of my marketing services (even though I spell it out for them a, b and c). It's also frustrating when business professionals don't take the time to learn about how marketing can help them -- you can only hold a person's hand so much. However, I have my share of clients who really 'get' marketing; it's fun to watch when the light bulbs turn on and they see their tangible results.
If you don't have time to market your company, take Mr. Patel's advice and hire good people to work for you. Maybe the marketing techniques and tools you are using at this very moment aren't setting your business on fire (if they were, you wouldn't need to hire a marketer). That's exactly why you NEED a marketing professional: he/she can steer you away from what's NOT working and guide you in the right direction.
I work with a fantastic marketing company, Adapt Marketing & Design, who specializes in hospitality marketing. The owner, Ryan, is a 'big ideas' guy and he's smart --he knows his marketing but he also knows why he needs good people on his team. He has a complementary blend of artistic vision (his graphic designer) and a wordsmith (me, the copywriter) to balance out his team.
Leave your marketing to the professionals so you can concentrate on your customers and your business.
I wish more business owners and solopreneures would step up to the plate when it comes to hiring professional marketers. Marketing is such a catch-all term and not everyone is a marketer, but if you want to survive in today's market it's important to invest in a dynamic marketing team who knows what they are doing. Marketing goes beyond that quirky advertising exec and it even goes beyond social media tools. Even if you outsource and hire marketing contractors, marketing is a wise investment. If implemented correctly, you will see big returns on your marketing investment.
As a marketing professional, it's frustrating when prospects return my proposals with that dreaded statement: " Too expensive." I'm sure I'm not the only contractor out there who's been rejected because of their price. My rates are competitive and fair. If people don't want to invest in their marketing, that's their perogative and I usually chalk it up that the prospect isn't a good fit for me and doesn't understand or clearly sees the value of my marketing services (even though I spell it out for them a, b and c). It's also frustrating when business professionals don't take the time to learn about how marketing can help them -- you can only hold a person's hand so much. However, I have my share of clients who really 'get' marketing; it's fun to watch when the light bulbs turn on and they see their tangible results.
If you don't have time to market your company, take Mr. Patel's advice and hire good people to work for you. Maybe the marketing techniques and tools you are using at this very moment aren't setting your business on fire (if they were, you wouldn't need to hire a marketer). That's exactly why you NEED a marketing professional: he/she can steer you away from what's NOT working and guide you in the right direction.
I work with a fantastic marketing company, Adapt Marketing & Design, who specializes in hospitality marketing. The owner, Ryan, is a 'big ideas' guy and he's smart --he knows his marketing but he also knows why he needs good people on his team. He has a complementary blend of artistic vision (his graphic designer) and a wordsmith (me, the copywriter) to balance out his team.
Leave your marketing to the professionals so you can concentrate on your customers and your business.
I have a touchstone for marketers who want to "make me rich". It's very simple: "we'll get rich together." You get a percentage of my increase in business. Kind of like how a legitimate agent works.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the percentage has to be sufficient to make the marketer more money (if s/he's successful) that if I paid up front. After all, s/he's taking a risk along with you.
The first thing you have to make sure of before any marketing effort is that you have a product that is worth buying. If your book is a lousy and amateurish effort, then no amount of flashy marketing is going to turn that pig's ear into a silk purse. So do your part of the work first: learn your trade and get the best editing you can afford (and put aside your ego and listen to your editor).
Hi Al, thanks for your comments. I agree. If your book is poorly edited and sounds amateurish, all the marketing in the world won't help you. Yes, most definitely invest in a professional editor -- one of the best investments you can make as a writer.
ReplyDelete