Do it yourself Marketing...

As a marketing professional with over 15 years of experience, I've heard some amazing things.

Discussing with a prospect years ago about not having a website:

"My cousins, wifes, sons dog is going to do it for me for free...I got it taken care of"

Slight exaggeration but you get the idea...

I've heard that and many similar responses for Websites, Marketing, etc.

Look, some that do it themselves do a GREAT job. You're also saving on Retainers or Management Fees so more money is going toward advertising. GREAT!

In some cases though, you have to ask...

"At what cost?".

For starters, as a business owner/decision maker, what is your time worth? If it's worth spending time on Marketing, Analytics, etc then keep at it. But if it's better spent with your teams, your customers, or just about anything else then that is an answer.

Certain companies that are larger in size also have greater access to platforms than you do directly. I learned this years ago when I worked in the Yellow Page industry and we got access to Targeted Display Advertising on Yahoo's Network of Websites/Content.

(I know a bunch of people just asked themselves "What is a yellow page?", stay with me)

From Yahoo themselves, when we learned about this product, they informed us that for someone to go to them directly 1on1 and not through someone like the company I worked for at the time, their minimum entry-level budget to do that would be $10,000 per month.

By going through us, the minimum entry level started at $1,000 per month. Why? The company I worked for has markets across the country. Thousands of advertising partners that would be buying into this to easily hit Yahoo's entry-level starting positions to work with the platform. For local businesses, it provides a more affordable access point.

And that is why "doing it yourself" will only work for a certain amount of time. Eventually, as your business and advertising dollars expand, you will reach a point where you'll want to evolve what you're doing but may not be able to do much about it.

Also, are you living/breathing marketing, and digital platforms, every day?

Are you staying up to date on technologies, trends, etc?

Your current or potential partners are. That's what we do, every day. Why not utilize someone who can bring that to your organization?

Even if you're big enough to have a marketing department, why not utilize a company that can bring their expertise, greater buying power & access to a plethora of platforms and so much more? That company literally can become an extension of your marketing team without the overhead it would take to hire that many personnel.

I think a close second to this topic is the age-old...

"I don't need any marketing, referrals are my #1 form of business"

I don't doubt referrals are strong for you. If you're a reputable business that provides exceptional products/services, referrals should be GOLD for your organization.

Let me pose a couple of questions & points though.

First, if your referrals are that strong, wouldn't you want to exponentially expand your reach/network? Expand your referrals coming in?

Second, and this may be the bigger question to contemplate, is your network the EXACT same it was a year ago? I can't speak for all across the country, but here in New Hampshire and surrounding states like Maine & Massachusetts, there has been a MASSIVE housing changeover. Lots of buying & selling. What does that mean for local businesses? The people you've known could have had a 30% turnover or more. When we sold our home in 2021, our realtors estimated in ONE day (and they stopped counting) they had over 50 couples come through the open house and at least 70% were out of state.

Finally, and this is more of a point than a question, your current network only reaches so far. When you're a new business, sure the referrals significantly drive your growth. 100%. At some point, the growth significantly slows, if not stalls.

Why? If you don't actively continue to grow your network & reach new people (forget the circumstances described above), your network flatlines at a certain point. Think of it from a Social Media perspective, some people have thousands of friends/followers, some have a few hundred. The point is, that number eventually caps. Sure once in a while, a new person gets added, but unless you actively start going out to events, networking, etc, it stops.

MARKETING is the thing that continually works on behalf of your business getting your name out there and building your trustworthiness (Brand Equity) within your marketplace. 24 hours a day 7 days a week in some cases.

Again, not saying referrals aren't important. They should ALWAYS be the #1 source of your best business. Just think about adding multipliers to that business generator by expanding your reach through effective marketing!

Keep driving, keep learning!

~Ryan

Ryan Sheehy - Director of Digital Training & Strategy with Townsquare Media.

Ryan is a marketing/training/public speaking professional with over 15 years of Management, Marketing & Training Experience and over 20 years of Sales experience.

Questions for him can be sent through LinkedIn or at his email: [email protected]