Don't Confuse Marketing with Business Strategy

I was chatting with a friend who recently started her own business, and I reminisced about doing marketing consulting for SMBs.

I recalled a number of chats I had over the years with new clients to discuss their business needs and what services I could provide - and I shard with her one common mistakes they'd make:

They'd confuse marketing with business strategy.

A good consultant should be able to gauge actual need when working with a new client and manage expectations; however the scope of work is very different, which quickly changes timelines and budgets - as well as success measures.

In most literature on the subject, business strategy is categorized into 3 types: Growth Strategy, Product Differentiation Strategy, Pricing Strategy.

Marketing strategy comes after all of this, once you've determined what you're selling, why it's good and for whom, and how much it costs (and is worth to you). When you know these things, you'll be able to work out a marketing strategy to determine the best way to get more customers.

And if you want to try something new with your business - which for many still tends to involve some form of social media marketing (especially as the medium evolves in terms of advertising) - a Facebook campaign or new engagement approach isn't going to cut it if you haven't fleshed out a viable strategy - for your business - and equally importantly, your brand.

While there's nothing wrong with using social media to test out new marketing tactics, it's not the space to test out a new business strategy.

What you put out in social media should be something you're comfortable with representing your business - and quite possibly, for a moment in time, your entire business (if you're reaching new audiences who've never been exposed to your brand and that's the first time they see you).

Case examples

One recent example had me hearing a food proprietor and catering company say that she wanted to get on social media ASAP to reach a younger market with more 'hip' messaging. Of course, that's possible. In fact, with the right marketing collateral, editorial plan, and campaign set up, engagement rates with this audience may be higher in this marketing medium than any other; but, apart from the mere desire to expand one's market (and revenue streams), what is the rationale for the direction in which you should expand your business? Why a younger audience? I quickly learned they didn't have anything of that much differentiating value to offer this particular demographic; the idea of looking cool on social media was the main motivation, so we talked about that - brand strategy and positioning, rather than 'what to post on Facebook'.

Your business strategy should determine how you do your marketing, not the other way around.

In another example, one business owner had expanded their product line and had reasonable success selling via more traditional means. They hoped to get some quick traction and leads on Facebook while the market was hot and the product in season - by putting out ads (for the first time in company history) and highlighting an existing discount that was time sensitive (expiring in four weeks). They soon came to realize that to market a new product in a new medium requires more than just hitting the "launch campaign" button - and that the project would take longer than expected. It may not take long to get ads up and running, but the client's scope quickly widened as they saw the other opportunities - and customer expectations - that would result from driving traffic online. I was soon brought in to wireframe new landing pages, work with a graphic designer and videographer - and needless to say, we had to adjust the budget and timeline a bit.

It's easy to get tempted to use cost-effective marketing channels like Facebook to carve out a larger audience for your business quickly. But, if you manage to get referral traffic, what are you doing to make sure your business is ready to serve them there and convert them into an actual customer? It all goes back to strategy.

In business, I don't think there are any quick fixes to achieve sustainable profits. And in marketing, the same is true.

Don't fall victim to mixing up business strategy and marketing, though, hoping that marketing can be a quick way to address business problems or new opportunities. You'll risk looking like a company that doesn't fully deliver and not only will business suffer, but so will your brand - and that's even harder to fix.