The Pros and Cons of Do it Yourself Marketing
Most people who do free marketing do it because they simply
cannot afford more expensive methods. Many though, do it because
there are some VERY effective methods that should be done
even if money is plentiful. In fact, many of these tactics
are so effective that business owners will pay someone else
to have them done, as it is still a more effective use of
their money than some other paid forms.
The major issue here is one of time. Free marketing methods
take time in two ways:
They take work, which YOU have to do (or which you have to
pay for), and that work takes a lot of time.
They are slow to work. They work with awesome power, but
it takes time to build.
So, that means if you decide to do your own marketing without
paying for anything other than equipment and supplies (internet
connection, computer upkeep, paper, etc), then you must be
willing to work very hard, for a very long time.
The other thing about doing it yourself is that you have
to LEARN. There are tactics that are a waste of your time,
and some that can actually harm your business. There are other
solid, tried and true, and highly effective tactics, and you
have to learn to know the difference, and how to do the good
ones right.
Nearly every tactic has a specific set of rules. Do it wrong,
it will backfire. Do it right, it will slowly grow into something
awesome.
Doing your marketing yourself means you have to learn how
to do those right, and you also have to learn the rules of
effective marketing in general.
You can use the most effective method in the world, and if
your marketing message is wrong for your target market, it
will still fail. So you have to learn how to word things,
and how to produce an effective message.
These are things many business owners can learn. It is certain
though, that you will have many moments of frustration, and
quite a bit of discouragement before you get there. I don't
know any small business owners who have not had to slog through
a great deal of marketing that they did not feel like doing,
during a time when they thought it would not work well enough
to bring enough long term. As they persevered though, they
DID triumph, and with dedication, it did eventually pay off.
You have to spend about half of your business time marketing
during the first three to six months. After that, you can
only slack a bit IF you are getting good results. You'll also
get more efficient at marketing, so it gets done faster.
Free marketing tactics that work, and that startup owners
can learn to do, are one of the ways in which a determined
person can get started with a business, even if they have
no real cash to invest.
But it only happens if they substitute work for cash, and
determination for assistance.
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