The other day I was mentioning to some colleagues that I really don’t know how a single person at a small business can actually do marketing on their own these days. The conversation occurred as, even at our own agency, we were running into problems with a particular WordPress theme we were trying to import into a site. Typically, WordPress themes are pretty straightforward: You upload a ZIP file and bam, you get the page templates you need to start. But what happens if that theme doesn’t come in fully? We had that happen to us and after multiple discussions with both a hosting service and theme provider we got it to work, but only thanks to our development team.

It got us thinking: Over the years, we’ve become pretty knowledgeable about WordPress and building out websites, but if we couldn’t do this one ourselves, how can a small business with perhaps less experience in WordPress expect to do it well on their own? And then we thought about other areas of building out a website. You probably should know:  

• • What messaging and copy to put on the page to search visits and interest
  • What images you have to add and where you add them, as well as what sizes
  • How to create a logo and a favicon for your website (if you don’t have one already)
  • How to format columns, spacing and the look of certain features on-page
  • How to choose website colors and fonts and make sure it’s all integrated with your brand
  • How to set up a contact form and connect to your email marketing automation platform
  • How to set up thank-you pages
  • What to put in the navigation and footers so customers can easily get around
  • How to make sure your website loads quickly
  • And the list goes on…

Then, we got to thinking about all the other things you probably want to do to market your small business:

• • Build out a marketing strategy aimed at building your brand among specific target audiences
  • Set up your email marketing automation platform and send out frequent and triggered emails
  • Purchase ads in search, display, social or video platforms and develop the creative necessary to implement those ads
  • Create original content (articles, video, audio) you need to boost the brand
  • Manage your social media channels with frequent posts
  • Maximize your e-commerce or lead generation funnel (if you’re B2B or B2C)

Each of those areas above also requires specialized knowledge if you’re going to do it well.

It’s OK to Get the Help You Need

Can a single person do all of the above alone? In all the years I’ve been working in the field, I’ve never met one individual who could or one who could take on even a majority of those areas listed and do them even adequately. And even if someone could, he or she wouldn’t have time to do everything needed. (Truth be told, it would be hard for a small team of people to do all of the above well, much less one person.)

That’s why when it comes to marketing for a small business, you’re not alone in the fact that it can seem overwhelming. So, one way or another, if you’re going to grow, it’s probably going to be important for you to hire experts who do these things already for many companies. You can hire a full-time employee or employees or go with an agency. The one advantage of an agency like ours is that you can certainly save money over a full-time employee while still getting experience in that particular specialty.

How to Balance Your Spend on ‘Help’ with What You Can Do Yourself

We know many small businesses are worried about additional spending on marketing. So how do you balance the need for help with what you can reasonably do yourself/on your own? First, ask yourself a few questions:

• • What am I good at? Do you do social or content development well? Are you good in front of a camera? Do you like writing emails etc.?
  • What do I want to learn? We’re big proponents of small businesses taking a growth mindset when it comes to their marketing. What we mean by that is taking a page out of Stanford researcher Carol Dweck using an approach that allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome, as long as it’s in the name of learning. Why is that important for marketing? If you really want to learn something, the best way, after all, is to keep trying different things and seeing how you do with it. Over time, you can get better and better and modify your approach. For example, maybe you’re dead set against an agency running your ads because it’s a lot of money you have to spend. If you have a growth mindset and you’re willing to make mistakes along the way, you could become a perfectly fine media buyer if you stick with it.
  • What do I not want to do? Equally as important as knowing what you want to learn and what you’re good at is knowing what you don’t like doing. Maybe you can’t stand doing social media and you really just want someone else to help.
  • How much time do you have to spend on marketing? When you’re running a business, especially a small business, you have to do everything – product development, accounting, sales, marketing, and customer service. How much time do you really have for marketing alone?

Conclusion

Answers to these questions will help you narrow down your list and keep costs low. But the main point still remains. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help. No one does marketing alone. We all need help. Contact us anytime and we’re happy to have a free consultation about your needs.