WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS A MARKETING GENERAL CONTRACTOR

Marketing your business is a process similar to a home renovation: you need a general contractor to call the shots and make everything fit together.  

​Here at Banyan we come in contact with many business owners that hire different companies that “specialize” in one particular online marketing task.   Often its a way to keep costs down and all contractors in their own swimming lanes working on tasks rather than goal.  The result: no consistency and ineffective activities that counteract the effectiveness of one another. In fact, a couple companies we had talked to in the past ended up with two websites (with two different designs) because each of these online marketing companies had to create their own website to guarantee first page placement on Google!

Having a marketing general contractor (or marketing consultant, coach, advisor or quarterback as we are commonly known) to help you develop a plan, choose the right activities and work with the various niche specialists ensures that your web presence is consistently projected to your target market. Some activities you most likely will need help with include:

• Search engine optimization
• Web/blog design & development
• Social media
• Local search
• Pay-per-click
• Email marketing

Without a Marketing General Contractor that is well versed in online marketing, you run the risk of too many brand identities, inconsistent messages and different target markets, not to mention your lack of control and potentially higher costs.  And with multiple web properties unmanaged long after your contractors are gone it can really harm your business long term on the search engines.

Develop your game plan to engage with an expert to help you create a marketing game plan that takes into account your needs and resources and can help you select the right mix of online activities. Without this game plan, the band of “experts” you hire to help you become visible can run in many different directions, confuse your target audience and potentially make promises on which they can’t deliver.   While many people are wary of outside influences on their marketing, the reality is that a true marketing expert is going to say the things that need to be said to help the business move forward to achieve bottomline results.  And sometimes that means saying "No, thats a bad idea that will lose you a lot of time & money."  

The benefits of having someone fill this role for your business will help you:

• Align your Marketing with your Business Goals ensuring you are doing what you need to be successful and not wander aimlessly without direction.
• Develop a Marketing Plan for your business that will help you identify your target audience and niche market so you know exactly where to target your  efforts.
• Create a Social Media system to help you remain consistent and eliminate the feeling of being overwhelmed.
• Stay in control of your online properties & website.  Remember your web presence is a major component of your brand identity and your brand identity is an important asset of your business.

If you decide you don’t want to hire a marketing general contractor, you will need to take that on yourself so you can remain in control and get what you pay for. However, as a small business owner, this may be one of those areas that makes sense to outsource as it will save you money in the long run.