Marketing Partners

As a business owner you are probably very good at what you are doing. One thing you should probably let the experts do is marketing – especially online marketing.

Why especially that? Because the image of your business is present in front of your customers even when you are sleeping. Because that’s where the trend is and you need to adapt to survive the market.

Without trying to emphasize the obvious let’s just all agree that in order for any business to succeed you HAVE TO BE ON THE WEB.

As a small business owner you have 2 choices:

1. Do it all Yourself (email marketing, web design, blog participation)
2. Partner up with a reputable company that can do all that for you without crippling your marketing budget. (visit my Web Design & Marketing Company that fits these requirements)

Let’s review one by one:

1. Do it Yourself
This requires that you learn all the skills necessary for you to create a powerful online marketing plan. As mentioned in the article “3 Marketing Must haves for Businesses”, they are: email, website, blog. You probably are proficient in email and maybe in doing some snazzy little graphics to insert into your emails. What about the website? How about the blog?

Here’s what you would need to cover the last 2 items:

• HTML editor
• CSS knowledge
• FTP – File Transfer Software
• Graphics Editor
• Statistics Reporting Software
• eCommerce software (if you are planning to sell anything on your web site)

Let’s say you have all of the above. My guess is that you are a web design & SEO company. No? Well – when do you have the time to do all this then?

2. Partner with a web design & marketing company
Your other option is to build a strong relationship with a company that can do all that for you. After all – time is money and you need to concentrate on your own business (unless you are running a web shop, and in which case disregard this option).

Wouldn’t you rather spend your time coding and twittering or working to grow your business?

If you are in need of surgery you don’t learn how to do it. You just go to a specialist. Find your specialist in marketing and stick with him/her until you see results in your business. Of course that doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with one person or one company but remember that you also have to give some time until all works well.

Marketing is not a “build it and they will come” idea. There are millions of other businesses trying to do better than you and they compete with a strong marketing plan backed by a strong marketing team. Ca you, by yourself compete with that?

Conclusion:

• Create your marketing plan, including a budget and stick with it
• Make a list of things you can do without cutting too much in your time spent on your own business
• Calculate the ratio of lost time doing it yourself vs. paying someone else to do it
• Find a good design and SEO company that can relate to your needs
• Pick their brain and listen if they bring new ideas that can enhance your profits

 Claudiu Geanta is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Design by Satori Inc. & Satori CG Inc.. He helps businesses promote their presence on and off line. He is also an accomplished web designer, book writer and photographer. You can follow him on Twitter.
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