Everyone wants instant gratification when it comes to any sort of marketing or sales. Many businesses want to hit the ground running and put in the maximum effort in order to be successful. There are many saying that repeat the idea, “work hard for what you want”, “if you can dream it, you can achieve it” or “giving up is never an option”. These sayings are comforting as no business owner creates a business plan where they are going to fail. But remember, you are starting everything from scratch. Having a successful and profitable business takes time. Keep in mind, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I talk to so many people who run businesses and expect money to come in overnight. What they fail to understand is that isn’t always a realistic expectation. In my experience, organic marketing is an underrated tool that many businesses overlook. To be honest, organic marketing might be the best long term tool you can utilize in your business plan. This is because it is one of the most reliable and sustainable marketing strategies to help your business grow.
Paid Marketing
I don’t disagree that paid marketing is something that can really jump start your business. The issue I have with paid marketing is that it doesn’t guarantee results. I see so many companies spending an insane amount of money on paid marketing, not knowing how much of a gamble it is. It is important to keep in mind that the amount of money you put in doesn’t equate to the same amount of results. Not only that, once you spend said money you don’t get it back. You can only hope to regain the spent money in increase business and sales.
The problem I have with paid marketing is that you are limited by the amount of money you have available. Many businesses start off with just enough money to keep operations running. And any extra money they do have is their “break in case of emergency” funds. I knew of a guy who spent 2 million per year on FB ads simply because he got a positive ROI from it. Imagine having to spend that much money just to see tangible results. This isn’t to say paid marketing doesn’t have its benefits. But many small business owners don’t have the ability to risk that much money.
Organic Marketing
Organic marketing is the single best way to market your business. But the biggest issue with organic marketing is the wait time. Many owners wants to see positive results starting the day their doors opens. While there isn’t anything wrong with that, this can have many losing hope too soon. In my experience, small and steady increases are more sustainable and give better long term results.
The great thing about organic marketing is that it yields results even if you do not actively put in consistent effort into it. With organic marketing, you can start today and only start seeing results in 6 months. But those results will only grow from there and not stop when you decided to. Not only does it continue to grow, you don’t have to consistently invest money into it unlike paid marketing. The idea of spending less money while seeing gradual results as you focus on your business is a win-win for me. This is what makes organic marketing so great and why I love it so much. The idea that you invest your business once and see consistent results from that single investment is amazing to me.
The best possible approach
I understand that everyone is at a different point in their business journey. Everyone focuses on what the best business strategy is in order to get the best result for their company. But the most important thing you can do when beginning is understanding where you are and where you are trying to get to. This will give you the best idea on how to get to your end goal. With any business, or life goals, consistency is the key. On average, it takes about 2-3 years for any business to see any profit.
Even though I’m an organic marketing advocate due to it being “the gift that keeps on giving, that doesn’t mean paid marketing doesn’t have its perks. My advice, the best approach is a mix of paid marketing and organic SEO. The mixture of the two actually work best together to get the best outcome possible. So, if possible, doing both types of marketing might give faster results. I recommend talking to an expert to pinpoint what needs improvement. This way you can find a custom-tailored plan that fits your business.
