There is a “somewhat” popular point of view among a segment of small business owners…

that marketers don’t matter or marketing doesn’t matter anymore.

[source: Small Business Forum] There are many clichés I’ve heard: “all my business comes by referral,” “I never spent money on marketing and my business grew,” “marketing wastes money,” “I see no value in marketing,” “marketing is all luck so why spend money on it,” and so on.

Here are three “possible” reasons as to why:

Their definition of marketing is misguided

When business owners argue that marketing doesn’t matter, they usually have a different meaning of what marketing is than those who understand how marketing contributes to business goals — charging the most money you can for your services and products.

Marketing should be first about spending time building a solid foundation based on strategy before proposing a series of tactics aimed at lifting sales. Until the business finds a way to change the context of how their ideal customer views what they do, and in effect become the obvious choice provider, they’ll find that their marketing efforts never seem to build momentum.

Those who often misunderstand marketing believe that it is only about advertising campaigns, Website, email marketing, SEO, tradeshows, content marketing, social media, copy, etc. I’d argue that marketing is essentially the core of business strategy because it is about understanding the current customer and creating products and services that the ideal customer is willing to buy from a brand they know, like and trust.

They believe their administrative assistant or even they can do it

Sometimes in the “do it all yourself” or “admin assistant” world of small business, it’s difficult to spot the areas that require outside help. A business may be able to set up their newsletter, add plugins to WordPress, and clumsily create header graphics, but you need somebody who is trained, practiced, and skilled at looking strategically and holistically at the marketplace, understanding the customer, and then creating unique opportunities based on this understanding.

It needs to be led by a strategic marketer who can then develop an integrated marketing approach. Can you or your admin assistant do this? In some cases, yes. But those who are great at this most likely either come from marketing or consulting — where they have transferable skills and experience defining AND delivering against a growth strategy.

You need somebody who will have a very solid, process, streamlined, consistent, repeatable approach. First, they will do research and learn about your company to the fullest, the dynamics of the marketplace and identify shifts, trends, and changes. From there, the strategic marketer will be able to present the different elements of your marketing plan in logical order of how you should construct them, update them, or revise them.

They hire the wrong marketing help

There is a huge misunderstanding around marketing strategy, marketing tactics, and marketing execution.

There is a difference between being strategically capable, creatively capable and executionally capable.

Small business owners don’t hire a strategic marketing consultant/firm to develop creative graphics and headers; nor should you hire an advertising/graphic design agency to handle marketing strategy. A small business doesn’t need to hire a consultant or a firm who is a strong marketing executor when their biggest need is a strategy for sustainable growth. You may get more attention, but not the best results.