Marketing is everything you do to get and keep clients. So why do people dislike, or even downright hate, marketing so much? Here are a few reasons why people avoid marketing.
1 -Belief That Marketing Doesn’t Work
Most business owners try a number of things to market themselves such as running advertisements, building a website, sending out postcards, or even cold calling. When they don’t have much success or don’t get many responses, they feel frustrated and declare that marketing doesn’t work.
Marketing does work, but often the things you think should work don’t. Some of the most common reasons why your ads and promotions don’t get the response you want include not reaching your target audience, failing to differentiate your product or service from your competitors, not appealing to your prospect’s needs, or not offering something interesting or relevant in your ad copy.
2 – Belief That Marketing is Time Consuming
Most business owners prefer to spend their time working with clients or selling products directly. They don’t want to worry about the boring aspects of running a business like dealing with finances, managing inventory and vendors, or marketing their products and services.
Time is our most valuable resource, yet often we spend time on activities that don’t help us grow our businesses. We think short term, focusing on our daily to-do list, without thinking about our long term goals and which activities will be the highest and best use of our time in the long run. If something is important to you, you’ll either find the time to do it or hire someone to manage it for you.
3 – Belief That Business Should Come
Many people don’t like the concept of self-promotion. They feel that marketing is a lot like bragging. Others feel that if they provide a great product or service, their clients and customers will automatically tell others about them. They believe word will spread about the value of their offerings, and the right prospects will realize that value and want to hire them. Some hate selling and fear becoming that pushy salesman who won’t take “no” for an answer.
The problem with this approach is that prospects are incredibly busy. They suffer information overload and are overwhelmed by choice. It takes a lot of work to make a smart buying decision, and many are just too busy living their lives to try to figure out what it is you do and why that is so much better than the alternatives. Prospects want you to give them a reason to choose you.
3 – Overwhelmed and Don’t Know Where To Start
With so many ways to market your business, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and not do anything or spread your resources too thin by trying too many things at once.
Successful people are action oriented. They make quick decisions to just do something, rather than spending countless hours debating the pros and cons of each activity. Pick a marketing method, learn what you need to know to implement it (or hire someone who can), and get your marketing campaign going.
5 – Don’t Know How to Execute a Successful Marketing Campaign
Getting someone to buy what you sell isn’t as simple as picking the right shade of blue for your logo or picking out a photograph for your website. Regardless of how you choose to market your business, you’ll need to learn to create ads and promotions that reach the right prospects and persuade them to contact you. If you don’t understand the fundamentals of marketing or the type of promotion you are running, it’s easy to do something wrong and not see results.
If you don’t know what to do, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You can’t be an expert in everything, and there’s no shame in seeking help for something that’s holding you back. Look for help with a quick Google search, ask a colleague who has done something similar, attend a seminar, or check out Elance.com to find service providers who can help.
Don’t Like Being Rejected
It’s painful to watch as a prospect you’ve been talking to chooses a competitor over your product or service. It feels like they are rejecting you personally. Yet the key to success is to realize that usually their purchasing decision isn’t about you. Maybe they chose the company where they had relatives or friends working. Maybe another salesman explained a concept better. Maybe the offering they chose fit their needs better than yours did. Maybe they were having a bad day when they contacted your company. Maybe another decision maker you didn’t get to talk with chose the other company.
The key to handling rejection is to learn from your mistakes and keep going. It’s not personal. There will always be people who just aren’t right for your services, so respect their decision and move on.
Marketing’s primary function is to get and keep clients. When done right, it weeds out customers and clients who aren’t right for your business while attracting those who have a need for your offering and will gladly pay for it. To succeed at marketing, you must be selective in who you choose to serve. Not everyone will be a good fit for your company. That’s not a failure on your end – you’ll never be able to be all things to all people. Choose to be the right fit for a specific type of people and you’ll have a steady stream of prospects ready and willing to work with you.
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what about….having to manipulate people in order to be successful…