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You don’t have to hire a marketing company to promote your business. Doing your own marketing could save you a lot of money and give you complete control over your brand. Here are a few important dos and don’ts when it comes to DIY marketing.
Do your homework
When undertaking any kind of marketing – whether it’s putting on a conference or handling your own social media marketing – don’t purely rely on your instincts to guide you. Whilst marketing thrives on creativity, there are certain underlying rules which are worth educating yourself on. You can read books and attend workshops to educate yourself. There are also online resources such as video tutorials and blogs – the Legendary Marketer review offers more information on such online training programs. You could even take a course if you’d like to, but this is generally unnecessary.
Don’t rush it
Successful marketing needs to be thorough, so make sure to dedicate enough time to it. If you rush it, it could even reflect badly on your company by showing a lack of quality. For instance, if you’re building your own company website on WordPress, don’t just use a spare ten minutes to throw something together. Give yourself a good few hours to create something professional and unique and use online sources of advice to help give you tips.
Do have a budget
Whilst most people do their own marketing to save money, it’s easy to overspend and end up paying more than you would do were you to outsource a marketing company. This is particularly the case when it comes to marketing events. For instance, if you’re attending a trade show, you’ll want to keep costs under control – some companies can spend huge amounts of marquees, banners and digital signage, only to generate a few leads from the actual event, making it a big waste of money.
Don’t rely on automation
There are plenty of tools that can automate elements of your marketing such as generating ads for you, sending SMS text alerts for you and even generating social media posts for you. Whilst these automation tools can be convenient, relying on them too much can take away the human element from your marketing. It could even start to feel spammy if you’re constantly mailing clients with generic messages. Use automation sparingly and know when to personalise your content.
Do know your limitations
Marketing relies on a broad range of skills. Know your strengths and weaknesses so that you’re not taking on marketing tasks that are beyond your capability. If you haven’t got any graphic design skills for instance, designing your own flyers may not be a good idea. Similarly, if you have limited coding knowledge, don’t try to build a website or app from scratch. Calling in the experts when necessary will ensure that the quality of your marketing is kept high.