Let’s talk about marketing, and specifically why marketing is important to the ongoing health of your business… especially during chaotic times like these. Starting a marketing program is one of the common growth milestones businesses reach when they begin scaling beyond the seven-figure plateau. Perhaps you’ve already been testing the waters with some basic marketing efforts like Facebook ads, or maybe it has seemed like an insurmountable cliff that you aren’t sure how to begin climbing.
For this week’s guest on the Elite Entrepreneurs podcast, I had the honor of speaking with Nancie McDonnell Ruder, founder and owner of Noetic Consultants. Nancie is an experienced expert in marketing strategy, marketing training, branding and consumer research, and she and her team at Noetic help businesses better understand who their ideal customers are and then develop powerful marketing programs that resonate with those target audiences.
Why Marketing is Important in a Changing World
The last year has been filled with unprecedented challenges and chaotic changes brought about by social unrest, a divisive election cycle, an uncertain economy and most of all the ongoing global pandemic. Perhaps your instinct has been to scale back your spending to try to save money. However, Nancie says that it is especially important during difficult economic times to scale up your marketing, sales and consumer research efforts, even if you need to cut budget elsewhere in your organization. Why marketing is important, now more than ever, comes down to today’s consumers and the uncertainty they are experiencing in their own lives.
Consumers’ needs and expectations have changed due to everything our society has experienced in the last year, and understanding them presents new opportunities to develop products and services that help meet those needs. As Nancie shared during our interview, research tells us that an astonishing 70% of US consumers are looking for a clear message from their favorite brands, and this puts businesses in a unique position. With the government’s handling of the ongoing pandemic crisis getting very mixed reviews and with fewer people turning to religion to guide them through tough times, today’s business leaders have an opportunity and an obligation to step up to the plate.
The Role of Research
Having a clear message isn’t enough, if you don’t have a way to share that message so people can hear it. That’s where market research becomes a powerful resource. You need to understand what your customers want and expect from you so that you can meet those needs, and even modest research efforts can pay dividends in helping you tailor your marketing to your audience and develop products and services that resonate with them.
In this arena, you have a few options. You can build out your internal marketing team and handle everything in-house, or you can partner with expert consultants like Nancie’s team at Noetic. Either method can give you valuable insights into what consumers want from you, and those insights can open new doors for your business, as well as new thought leadership opportunities that can help your organization keep growing even during these challenges.
As Nancie explained, developing your research and marketing efforts is a vital step in ensuring that your message is heard and your business continues to grow. Just like any other aspect of your business, you can start small and scale up as your business needs scale. Backing your efforts with strong research is the key to ensuring that it hits the target. The key is to understand who your audience is and what they need and want from your business, and that knowledge can push you out in front of your competitors. That’s why marketing is important, especially today.
To learn more about Nancie McDonnel Ruder and her team at Noetic, please visit their website at www.noeticconsultants.com.
