If you are a small business owner and having trouble with your marketing strategy, including implementing it, then you should look into working with a strategic marketing company.
The Confusion: While many companies feel that they can benefit largely with the help of a strategic marketing companies or consultants, most of them are unable to determine the kind of help they are actually looking for. Such companies only come to the strategic marketing company interested in things such as:
- Have they ever worked on a similar campaign?
- Do they have expertise in their niche?
Most such companies are looking for a strategic marketing partner who specializes in the niche in which they themselves are operating. Also, these companies are totally clueless about the kind of help that they need, and are expecting magical solutions that will almost immediately increase sales and their customer base. This is really too much to expect from any strategic marketing company, no matter how good they are.
Strategic Marketing: While a strategic marketing company can definitely help small businesses looking to market their product/services more effectively and efficiently, they will first need to know the type of help you actually require.
A strategic marketing company can help you establish your business or can help you with business promotion. A strategic marketer is more concerned with the bigger picture and has expertise in overall promotion. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what your products or services are. You don’t need a strategic marketer that specializes in your niche. Whatever your business is, a strategic marketer can help you identify your needs and know what appropriate actions to take.
This brings us to the second point: it is very important for you to know what your business needs and what do you expect from a strategic marketing company, before you approach one. A strategic marketer will be more concerned about your approach to the whole issue. A strategic marketing company will need to know-
- What is it that you are trying to achieve, and by when?
- Where are you in the process at the moment?
- What is it that you exactly need help with?
Your business might be very new, and looking to become more stable, or your business might be old and looking at a makeover either way, no matter how old or new your company is, it will generally fit into one of these phases:
- product development phase
- product analysis phase
- customer analysis phase
- cost analytics phase
- supply chain exploration phase
- distribution channels exploration phase
- start-up funding phase
- expansion funding phase
- customer attraction or growth phase
A good strategic marketing company can help you in all these scenarios, and many more. But before that, you should be able to identify the problems, as well as the areas where you need help in executing the strategy.
