I can personally testify that a marketing coach will require you to have a lot of humility. There are moments that you think you are doing something right and hearing a different perspective can be challenging. Despite that, the wise entrepreneur will swallow their pride and seek outside marketing advice.
Below we discuss a few reasons why every entrepreneur needs a marketing coach, but first, who should not be your marketing coach..
Friends And Family Are Probably Not Experts
While those closest to you might have a lot of wisdom, that does not qualify them to function as a marketing coach. Marketing is an intricate industry. Universities offer graduate degrees in digital marketing ~ although this does not define a great coach. Trusting friends and family in this capacity would be something like trusting them to remove your tonsils.
Designing Your Website
Your web design will dictate the first impressions of other businesses and ultimately whether you make sales. It is sort of like if you were to walk into a grocery store and find that they had not cleaned up in a week. It is unprofessional and difficult to navigate. That is what people will think of your website. But unlike a grocery store, web design relates to HTML coding, which will likely require outside marketing advice.
Beyond that, your mobile platform needs to be optimized. Mobile browsing overtook desktop browsing in 2016. So you will need a web design that accommodates that trend.
The Shifting Sands of SEO
If you have been marketing your business for a few consecutive minutes, you have probably heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the criteria that search engines use to rank websites. When it is applied to your website, you will be implementing keywords, meta-descriptions, images, and much more. However, SEO is not as simple as discerning a few rules of thumb and applying them. Google changes its criteria regularly to prevent spammers from exploiting the system.
You will have to discern search engine trends and regularly stay updated. That task alone could consume a lot of time. That is why outsourcing to a marketing specialist is probably a good idea.
Managing Your Reputation
Many people had a moment in high school or college that might not have been ideal for their reputation. But that sort of thing typically fades into irrelevance as you move to a new city. The problem is that if your company has a bad moment and it is captured on the internet, that reputation will stick. A marketing support team will be able to provide some insight into your current status.
Beyond that, monitoring your reputation can be a little daunting. You will have to track what people are saying across different social media platforms. Then you will need to respond in a way that addresses their concerns and demonstrates how you are adapting to accommodate them. A benefit of receiving negative feedback is that it will highlight a few of your blind spots. A marketing expert can provide some direction into responding to critics.
Managing Your Time Wisely
New entrepreneurs often have eighteen-hour days. A marketing consultant can show you where you should spend your time. You have probably heard of Return On Investment (ROI). ROI is the amount of money that you receive from an advertising campaign balanced against the initial investment. Marketing experts can help track your ROI and tell you where you should spend your time and resources more precisely for the greatest return.
Competing Against the Big Guy
Once you are on the consumer’s radar, you will also be on the radar of larger corporations. They will attempt to outstrip your company by intentionally beating your prices and pointing out deficiencies in your products. This is their world, and yours is not the first small business to emerge. If you want to compete with them, you will need to retain the services of a marketing support team.
Google Voice Queries
Within the last few years, bloggers have adjusted to queries generated by mobile devices. A similar change is impending with the innovation of Google Voice. Marketing experts anticipate that users will input keywords audibly. When somebody types a query, they might say something like, “SEO trends 2017”. But an audible search will sound more like “Hey Google, tell me about the SEO trends for 2017.” The style will be more conversational. You will need keywords that respond to both types of queries. A marketing consultant will be able to guide you.
Communicating With Influencers
It might surprise you to learn that bloggers command a lot of respect on the internet. There are bloggers in your industry with a large audience. As an emerging voice, you need to communicate with those bloggers. Link to their websites a few times. When they see traffic coming from your site, they will notice you and might link back. Also, bloggers are usually pretty receptive to allowing or writing guest posts. This would be beneficial to both parties because you will get traffic from their audience and vice versa. A marketing consultant would know the most efficient way to trigger a positive response from influencers.
Giving Your Staff A Voice
Your employees might be too intimidated to criticize your marketing approach. But they could be more comfortable sharing it with a marketing consultant. This would open the line of communication between employer and employee.
If your pride is standing in the way, just know that marketing is a very complicated industry. There is no shame in admitting that you do not know everything. Let a marketing coach propel your company into prosperity.
