When should you hire a marketing expert?

“A good business idea is like fine wine. For it to be good, you need a lot of patience and a little bit of pressure.” 

Most entrepreneurs embark on a grueling journey for one reason – they have a product or idea they are passionate about. They believe in its novelty and potential to impact lives. With this as a driving force, they start their company in one of two ways – bootstrap it or approach a venture capitalist for seed money.   

It’s all about the product  

In my experience, the process from envisioning a revolutionary product or service, and seeing it to fruition is a long and arduous one, especially since no amount of marketing can compensate for a subpar offering. It usually takes several tries and attempts to develop a good, relevant, and marketable minimum viable product (MVP). But once you hit that milestone, you can float it to your inner circle - your biggest advocates and unpaid spokespeople for your brand.

The only way is up

Once it’s clear your product will make waves, you can either allow your brand to witness a natural growth - where you rely on word of mouth - or opt for more aggressive tactics with external funding to accelerate growth. (I will talk more about how to approach angel investors in an upcoming blog.) Only you, as a business owner can determine when the time is right to grow, and in which direction you want to go!  

Align, align, align

Once you have chosen a path for growth, you need to align your communication strategy. If you have more than one decision maker in your company, you need to get them all on the same page. Ask these three crucial questions:

1. Where do you see the brand in the next five years?
2. How do you want to get there?
3. How fast do you want to get there?

Once these core questions are answered, you can then develop a marketing strategy that works for you.

Do you need a marketing expert? 

Most good marketing consultants are not cheap – their expertise comes at a price. The hardest marketing decision you are faced with as a business owner is when, how much, and whom to invest in. A general rule of thumb I like to follow is to invest in an expert when: 

●    You have not worked in the sector before

●    You are looking to expand into regions you are not familiar with

●    You are looking to partner with a larger corporation, and you need a strong engagement strategy

●    You have been in the business for a while, but are unable to achieve your desired results

●    If you need to show quick results in a short span of time

Wondering what an expert can bring to the table? More on that in my next blog. If you have a business idea you need help with, please feel free to reach out to me at:  [email protected]