It goes without saying that, the more effective a company is with their marketing efforts, the greater their chances of increasing revenue and brand awareness. Marketing is a vital function for any growing business. This is a reason that companies spend millions and sometimes tens of millions of dollars on various marketing campaigns. Even industry leaders with well-established brands are constantly spending to enhance their brands. Not only are they spending, but they are analyzing and evaluating their marketing strategy so that they can determine how to maximize their efforts.
Building brand equity and increasing awareness are equally as important for entrepreneurs, small business owners and professionals trying to build a practice. Some could argue that ineffective marketing is even more damaging to a company or business that is not well-established since the margin for error is smaller. However, the challenge is that many of them do not have the ability to spend the same amount of money or time marketing their services as do more well-established companies/brands. So, the question becomes: How do you most effectively build your brand with limited resources?
The first and most important thing you want to do is understand that there is a difference between cost and price. Too many professionals do not make that distinction, which leads them to pursue activities that have a low price — which is good — but little value — which is bad. Blogs and social media platforms provide a perfect illustration of this concept. Let’s use Twitter as an example. The actual price for establishing a Twitter account and tweeting can be zero. However, the actual cost of doing so depends on how effective you are. If you spend hours each day tweeting, have limited followers and no real engagement, then the cost is greater than zero. Those are hours that you could be spending on other, more impactful activities. Opportunity cost is a real thing. Everyone only has a limited amount of time, and how you use that time impacts your ability to grow your business or practice. Sometimes you may have to spend more money on activities because they yield better results — and that is preferred.
