We know we need marketing, but it costs too much

In spite of those who claim marketing costs too much, here are four major reasons why the opposite is true.

Marketing protects a business against competitive attack
Most companies don’t give marketing serious attention until something goes wrong: the activity of an aggressive competitor, falling sales or some internal crisis. Then everyone expects marketing to kick in and solve the problem.

Companies become vulnerable to competitor attacks if they fail to create a legacy of marketplace credibility. This means projecting and protecting the company image and constantly caring for the way customers perceive and appreciate the brand. This takes time, effort and money. 

But, when a problem arises, and it always does, there’s a reservoir of goodwill, knowledge and value offering protection.

Marketing creates a company’s future
When someone calls and says, “I’ve known about you for years,” you know marketing worked. Effective marketing contributes to a company’s success. Before customers make the decision to buy, they must make the decision to go to you.

The marketing objective is to help customers choose your company to do business with.

Behind all this stands a carefully designed and thoughtfully implemented marketing program with one aim: At the moment of need, the customer either seeks you out or welcomes your call.

Why are many established companies now in decline? In some cases, their customers closed their doors, merged or were acquired. Or, new competitors entered the market and grabbed their accounts. Quite possibly, the inside customers who knew them so well, such as buyers, purchasing agents and managers, left or retired.

Unless a company actively prospects two to 10 years in advance, it will find itself always pushing for sales.

Marketing makes selling easier
If customers are predisposed to do business with your company, making the sale is easier. A salesperson can be a consultant and not just call himself one. 

Such common selling issues as overcoming objectives and closing techniques become irrelevant. Relying on selling skills to get the order indicates that a company is not marketing.

Trying to make the sale when prospects lack a clear understanding of why they should talk to you wastes company resources, time, personnel and money. Jacking up commissions or lowering the price only drives the cost higher.

The role of marketing creates the right environment for successful selling. Without it, high business costs increase.

Marketing extends your reach
Whether drilling down into existing companies to find new opportunities, further penetrating a market or market area, or opening the door to new markets and new territories, marketing drives the effort.

To grow a business by expanding the market area, businesses must look to regions where nobody knows them.

Few companies willing acknowledge the challenge this creates for salespeople. Firms enter a new market where they’re unknown and wonder why sales lag. More often than not, the sales force gets blamed for the debacle, even though the fault was a lack of marketing.

The high cost of failing to market
Failing to market is too costly. The bottom-line value of marketing becomes clear when account for these three factors:
• sales that go to a better-known, but not necessarily more competent, competitor;
• missed sales opportunities because you are unaware they exist; and,
• thin-margin sales made to save accounts or get in the door.

The money is flying out the door now. Marketing keeps it where it belongs: on the books.

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