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(Article first published in January '08. It has been modified slightly to suit its publication on our site)
The thought of "marketing" sends shivers down the spine of many business owners. Others just think it's a waste of time, while the rest spend money on activities without ever looking at how much return revenue they generate.
The reason for this is very simple - 99% of business owners are specialists in their field, but that field isn't marketing! That makes marketing sound like brain surgery, but in reality, with just a little help anyone can become extremely proficient at marketing their business.
Successful companies of any size know that marketing is crucial and that there is an associated secret, edict and rule to follow, and they are:
- Secret - There is no secret - it's all about common sense!
- Edict - Marketing is an investment, NOT a cost!
- Rule - Every penny you spend on marketing should make you two or more in return
It doesn't matter whether it is for a print ad or an on-line marketing program, the above points still count.
However the truth is that even after reading a hundred articles, marketing will still not be second nature for some people and for others they just don't have the time. This is where marketing consultants come in. Take note that I say consultants rather than agencies because there's a big difference between the two. Agencies deal with large multi-national businesses, whereas consultants typically work with small to medium sized businesses and most importantly, they cost a lot less!
Another point to remember is that web and graphic designers are good at what they do, but they are not marketing experts, so if you want to run a successful advertising campaign you can't simply hand over some images and text to a designer and expect the advert to be successful. Ads and websites need to be crafted and thoroughly thought out so they deliver the results you expect.
Seek Professional Help!
So how do you know whether you need to work with a marketing consultant? Simply answer "yes" or "no" to the following:
- Do you want to run a marketing promotion or campaign, but don't know where to start.
- Do you want to approach a new customer-base or market sector, but don't know how.
- Do you spend too much time working on your marketing materials and not enough time working on your business.
- Your marketing programs are not delivering the returns you expected.
- You spent a lot of money on brochures/flyers that you didn't make good use of.
If you answered "yes" to one or more of the above then you need to seek external marketing expertise!
Franco De Bonis has worked in the field of sales and marketing promotion since 1990 and was most recently the global marketing manager for a major international technology company before setting up DG Group in January 2007.
DG Group is dedicated to delivering all the marketing solutions any company may require. Whether it's a website or leaflets and brochures, or even some product packaging; DG Group will manage the whole project and even provide guidance along the way.
The content in this section is the original creation of DG Group and is protected by copyright. You may use this content on your site or in other materials providing you acknowledge DG Group as the author and include a link our site.
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