If you are a business owner or someone who is involved with running one, then chances are you already know there are many different things that go into getting your business to grow.
From accounting to sales, resources are sometimes split between competing yet equally important divisions.
The tricky part sometimes can be in figuring out which department if any, yields the most benefit for those valuable resources.
Although we might all be partial to one aspect of a company’s operations over another, I want to share with you today why I believe marketing might be the one you gain the most from.
Without any delay let’s proceed to five of these benefits.
#1 Marketing Gets the Customers
From billboards signs, flyers, discounts, SEO, and content marketing, marketing is the reason customers learn about you, decide to do business with you, and keep coming back.
Since the lifeline of any business is its customers, and its customer money (not VC money) that leads to profitability, this is should be easy to understand.
Now I know the sales department plays one of the biggest parts in terms of bringing in the money, but the benefits marketing provides go beyond getting customers to make a purchase.
#2 The Customers Get a Seat at the Table
Perhaps the second biggest benefit you get is you ideally think about the customer as much as you think about yourself.
Some of the most successful companies are arguably the ones who know their customers best.
The knowledge you get from listening and paying attention to your customers can tell you what’s right, what’s wrong, or even if you need to change your entire business model, or “pivot” in another direction.
#3 Be About More than Just You
As you know business is about transactions. There is an exchange of goods or services between two parties, and as a result a sale occurs.
Marketing more than any other business function helps you expand beyond this point.
For example it helps you think about and develop your messaging, story, potential partnerships, and even contributions to your community.
All of this can occur before or after a sale, but the important thing to remember is you can expand beyond the cash register to connect with people in many other ways.
#4 The Chance to Work With Others
There is this idea that there exists a “versus” mindset between marketing and sales. Of course this should never be the case in any well run organization as everyone should be working on the same goals.
The reality is marketing supports sales, and in fact works with every other division to work on whichever every customer related goals exist.
A well run marketing department works with all others on all things related to getting and keeping customers.
For example engineering might write the code, but marketing informs them of customer habits or which way the competitive landscape is headed.
#5 Going Beyond the Storefront
One of the other big benefits you get is the chance to go beyond your physical space.
You can be doing business in a remote shopping center or on a brand new website, and the right strategies can provide you the chance to expand and reach more people in more places.
Things such as a billboard sign, or an ad on a city bus can alert people half way across town about what you are offering.
Even in today’s increasingly digital landscape things such as PPC, social media marketing, and even engagement on community forums give you the opportunity to build awareness about your business using a platform that’s outside your normal business.
Think about how easy it is to set up an account or profile on a major social networking site and all of a sudden your business has another presence online that’s not your website.
In some cases the account or profile you create can get more visitors than your actual website.
With marketing you don’t have to be behind the register, or sitting at your desk all the time. You can be engaging with the right audience around the clock, and in far more places than any other department in your business can take you.
Hopefully this shows you how marketing can benefit your business in some big ways. Hopefully this also inspires you to put a little more effort behind your marketing efforts.
Can you think of any other benefits? If so, then share in the comments.
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