With a combined turnover (according to government figures) of £1.9 trillion, UK SMEs account for more than half of all private business turnover, so no surprise that more small businesses are setting up to get a slice of this ever-growing cake. Recent figures suggest there is more than 5.7 million private businesses with 99.3% of them being small businesses and 99.9% being SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises).

However, while it’s a great business opportunity many don’t find the time to understand how to successfully market their business by understanding who their target audience is, how to ‘talk’ to them and knowing the best marketing options to reach them. Why is that you ask? Simple … TIME!

SMEs won’t have the time or resources of their larger counterparts to think about marketing let alone procure marketing services or products and are for more likely to be looking for bottom-line cost savings, focusing on the ‘need, rather than ‘want’ and, in many cases, tackling immediate business-critical needs over giving time to strategic marketing decisions.

Does all this sound a little familiar? Do you think this is perhaps inhibiting the growth of your business? Then its time to apply some good marketing sense by making time to develop a sound marketing strategy that will reward all your hard work to date and help you achieve the growth your business deserves.

Here’s another question for you … do you do it yourself or employ the services of an experienced marketing consultant? Ask yourself the following:

  1. Do I have the time and the knowledge to do all the marketing myself?
  2. If I use a marketing consultant … are they expensive?

The answers are ‘you don’t have the time now, so no, you don’t have the time, and let’s be honest, you probably don’t have the knowledge either’ AND ‘good marketing consultants will give you a cost up front based on time required to complete the brief/task, and not nearly as expensive as you might think?’.

AND … the big plus is you have the time to carry on running your business leaving the marketing to someone who will:

  • LISTEN – to get valuable insight into your objectives and understand your target audience
  • TALK TO YOU – find out from you what makes your business tick, understand the geography and the business pressures you are under
  • OFFER SOLUTIONS – give you options on how to make your business more visible … be flexible to your business needs and deliver the best you can afford

Simply put … become your ‘marketing department’ but only when you need them!