The Importance of Marketing: Do I Actually Need It?
Are you a contrarian like me? Sometimes when people tell me “you need this thing,” I say “Oh yeah?! I’ll show you!” That’s why instead of an iPhone 14, I have an old Soviet radio transmitter attached to a TI-84 calculator. Sure, I can’t do fancy things like “check my email” but I can play Snake with my pen-pal, Kyerocheiv.
Anyway, since working at a digital marketing company, my contrarian-ness has led me to wonder if marketing even matters. Is marketing important? Or is it one of those things that we only think we have to do? Like brushing our teeth (I’m not falling for it, Oral B!). So I did the research to see what marketing actually does, so we can explore who needs it and, more importantly, who doesn’t.
What Are Digital Marketing Strategies / What Do They Do?
1. First and foremost, marketing alerts the public to your existence. More than that, it keeps them engaged with your brand. Marketing is the way to let people know what they need to know. So, use marketing to inform your audience of any blindspots they might have. If you provide them with actual value, they will keep coming back.
2. Increases Your Reach – Spreading your message far and wide is how more people learn about your business. The farther your reach, the more people engage with your business, the more money you bring in.
3. Build and Maintain Reputation – Your reputation is built when your business effectively meets customers’ expectations. This in turn builds your brand equity and trust. Equity and trust lead to brand loyalty. It’s why I refuse to buy anything other than my TI-84/Soviet Radio phone – expectations met and exceeded! Plus, marketing can help spread the word about your reputation when your network is still small.
4. Create A Relationship With Customers – This is one area that modern, digital marketing has excelled. Businesses need to build a relationship of trust and understanding with their customers to keep them coming back. When customers feel like your friends and family, they are more likely to shell out their dough.
5. Inform Customers – How else are they supposed to know what’s going on with you? Use your marketing channels to tell customers what’s happening in your world to help them make informed decisions. Most markets have tough competition, so having a consistent, informative voice will help you stand out.
6. Create Revenue Options – More people, more money. Then, more money, more problems, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The reason you’re in business is to make money, right? Don’t tell me you’re in it to better your community! *Me and all the other billionaires laugh at you for 30 minutes* God, thank you for the laugh. No, the only reason to be in business is to earn enough profit to buy happiness. When you create loyal customers, they give you more money and they can even advocate for you. What are digital marketing strategies, if not ways to increase your revenue? $$$.
7. Know Your Customer – You most likely know who your ideal customer is, but marketing really shows you what kinds of people use your business. Digital marketing tools help you understand what content they engage with and what demographics they’re a part of. This, in turn, helps you know what products/services to offer more of and less of.
8. Destroying Your Enemies – If you’re anything like me, you live in constant fear of your competition gaining even the slightest advantage over you. So, marketing is a way to maintain dominance in your field. When people perceive you to be the best, you are the best.
Who Should NOT Use Marketing
Don’t use marketing if you don’t know who you are. Marketing is a lot like dating. You shouldn’t do it to “figure yourself out.” If you’re not 100% sure what your brand is, or if you’re not 100% sure what your company does, marketing will be much less effective. When businesses focus on marketing before really figuring out what they are marketing and why anyone should care, they struggle to find new clients. This might be a little counterintuitive. If you’re a young business, you might think “I need customers FAST!”
So, marketing would make sense. But without a clear brand, or a clear idea of what you do, marketing has no point. Back to the dating metaphor, if you go on a date without a clear idea of who you are, you have already failed. Let’s say you want to make a bold impression on a first date, so you wear an outlandish hat. A big honker, with a feather poppin’ out the top. In theory, this is a bold move that has a 100% chance of making you seem interesting. But, as soon as the date gets there, you feel uncomfortable with the hat. It’s not who you are. It’s drawing attention to you and you’d much rather be invisible. Why did I wear this huge hat??
You’re uncomfortable because that hat isn’t you. You thought it was you, but you didn’t have a good idea of who you are. And now, you’re single and have a $400 hat in your closet that you will never wear again. You tried to return it, but the haberdasher said you sweated through it and it’s ruined. I mean, how can you be in the hat business for 40 years and “never see such corrosive sweat come from a human being?”
Anyway, you can’t fake your way into business. I know we see this all the time. Our high school friend starts a “Holistic Healing Company” but one week they’re selling candles and the next they’re life coaching. Choose a lane, Breanna! Still, you start seeing ads for “Third Eye Industries” and you have a gut feeling that Breanna’s closing up shop soon. That’s because there isn’t an identity there.
When you take the time to know who you are, you can save yourself money and embarrassment. This will help you attract more of the right customers. Customers who will appreciate you and keep coming back. Once you figure yourself out, the loyal customers will come and marketing will be so much more effective.
So, Is Marketing Important? Yes, But…
…you have to know why you’re marketing in the first place. Luckily, KARMA jack Digital Marketing can help you through the process. We’re here to make your business better, even if it means saying “you’re not ready to market yet.” Now if you’ll excuse me, Kyerocheiv just got his snake 30 pixels long. I can beat that.
