Unless you were living under a rock the last few years, at some point in your life you saw Kate from “Jon & Kate plus Eight” trying to dance on Dances with the Stars a few years ago…and if you missed that, let me tell you that Young Frankenstein dancing to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” cut a better rug than poor Kate did. The fact of the matter is we can’t all be good at everything but the good news is, each of us is usually good at something….and if your business is accounting or sales or manufacturing….then that’s what you should focus on and hire someone else to do everything else. When it comes to business, getting the right people in place to perform each function is critical to success, and that applies to advertising & marketing as much as sales and production.
You can’t afford to use “do it yourself” marketing for your business (and forget the marketing your niece or nephew does as well). Don’t make the mistake of looking at an ad or sales piece and thinking “Hey this looks easy”. Just like any other professional skill, people study marketing and advertising for years to understand what makes people buy products. And in business you only get one or two shots at success, so do it right the first time (and if you’ve already done it wrong the first time, do what you have to do to hire a pro so you can at least make things right from here on out).
Do what you do best and let the advertising and marketing pros, do what they do best. By hiring a marketing pro, I don’t mean to use the free layout services from your local newspaper or magazine that they give you when you buy an ad. If you can’t afford to hire a pro, then perhaps you need to get some funding or take on a new partner with those skills? I know it’s frustrating to have a great product that no one knows about….but too many failed businesses made the mistake of developing great products and setting up well-oiled production and accounting departments, only to leave their advertising and marketing to a recent art school graduate. OR worse yet, leaving it to themselves to muddle through….FORGET THAT! Don’t underestimate the value of a well-planned, coordinated and consistent advertising campaign created by an experienced professional.
Do yourself a favor….you’ve gotten this far and invested this much, so don’t drop the ball now. Take your business all the way to the goal by hiring a talented advertising and marketing firm to ensure the world knows who you are and what great products or services you have to offer.
