Does Marketing Work?

Update: You may also find our podcast, How To Stop Throwing Away Money on Marketing That Doesn’t Work By Creating a Marketing Plan helpful.

The short answer to this is yes, marketing certainly does work. In fact, without it, your business couldn't survive.

Chances are, however, if you're asking this question, you've tried to do some marketing - maybe you've advertised in a local newspaper or magazine or sent out some postcards and got no response - and now you're skeptical.

You think "marketing" is a waste of time. You get enough new clients from referrals and your current clients are happy, so why waste money on advertising or mailings that aren't producing results?

Defining Marketing

Let's take a step back and define the term "marketing." Many people see marketing as just putting up a website or sending out a brochure or advertising. But marketing is far more than this. It is the process of getting and keeping customers profitably.

Everything you do, from the time you first make contact with a prospect to closing the deal to working with your satisfied client is marketing. That means marketing not only consists of your website, brochure, or advertising, but also how friendly your secretary is, how quickly you return phone calls, and how you ask for referrals from existing clients.

Marketing as a Multi-Step Process

Marketing a service is rarely a one step process. There may only be a handful of people that will see your ad or mailing and call you directly. Most people won't have an immediate need for your services - and as much as you want them to divorce their spouse so they can hire you as their divorce attorney, nothing you say will convince a happily married man or woman to do so.

Similarly, people must have a good reason for requesting an audit from your accounting firm or have thought a great deal about buying/selling their home and decided to contact you to be their Realtor. The decision to purchase professional services is never an impulse buy.

Therefore, when you think about marketing your professional services, you must think in terms of generating leads, nurturing existing prospects, and building relationships that will lead to new business. You can't build relationships with prospects if your only point of contact with them is through an ad that says "I'm the best - buy my services."

Using Marketing for Meaningful Interactions

Instead, you must create ways to meaningfully interact with prospects and contact them consistently. The keywords here are "meaningfully" and "consistent". Prospects must find each of your interactions - your newsletter, website, mailing, speaking engagement, or meeting - valuable and actively want to hear what you have to say. And they must hear from you on a consistent basis if you expect them to remember you when they do have an immediate need.

Creating a Marketing System

According to a report by the Aberdeen Group, over 80% of generated leads are never followed up on or are mishandled. Just generating leads isn't enough. You must devise a system to follow up with those leads consistently. As mentioned above, most people won't have an immediate need when they see your brochure or visit your website. But they may have a need down the road. If you don't stay in touch with them on a consistent basis, they'll forget about your company and use someone else.

Lead Generation and Nurturing

This is where lead nurturing comes in. Lead nurturing is the process of educating prospects on a consistent basis. There are a number of tactics you have in your arsenal - a monthly newsletter, free white papers and industry reports, seminars - that you can use to keep in touch.

An example of such a system might be as follows:

1. You run an advertisement in your local newspaper and send out a mailing to encourage people to download a new tip sheet from your website.
2. When they get to your website, you ask them for their contact information and permission to contact them on a basis via your monthly newsletter.
3. You send them valuable information that is helpful to them each month, and in the process, educate them about what you do.
4. One day when they or a friend/colleague has a specific need for a service you provide, they think of you and pick up the phone.

Notice how in this system, you make contact with your prospect in multiple ways (advertising, direct mail, website, newsletter). Each tactic works together to keep in touch and educate your prospect about your services while giving them advice that is useful to them.

Yes, Marketing Does Work

So, to answer the main question, does marketing work - the answer is a resounding yes. But rarely will one advertisement or mailing get the response you want. Think of marketing not as one or two isolated events but as a process. Marketing works best when you have a system in place and communicate with prospects on a consistent basis, providing them with information they find valuable.