How important is marketing your business?

Nearly all new businesses fail. That’s the official statistic. Some say 4 out of 5, some say as many as 95%.They are very risky. Successful entrepreneurs, however,  thrive on risk. The more insane the odds, the better they like it. For those of us who have families, or who just don’t feel like living on Ramen for the next four years, we’re probably better off keeping the day job.

Most people, when they think of the idea of starting a business, see it as an incredibly risky proposition, one that entails not just egg-in-the-face, but total ruin. They are nearly hysterical about the risks they could incur if they left their safe, boring jobs.

But is actuality, day jobs are risky. You’re making a bet that your company is well-run enough to survive the economy’s twists and turns, and that they’re always going to want to keep you around. Either of those can change in a heartbeat, and you’re left without a safety net. Crossing the street is risky. Using an ATM is risky. Having kids is almost unbearably risky.
Almost 100 people in the U.S. are killed by lightning and bees every year. Going outside: super risky.

The scary statistics about new business failure get quoted all the time. If you mention at Thanksgiving that you’re thinking about starting a business, your Aunt Mary will definitely dredge them up. But gross statistics compiled by government agencies can’t give you the picture of what those “failures” look like.They don’t tell you how many were experiments. They don’t tell you what the “failures” taught the business owners. They don’t tell you how many of those businesses changed into something else — something more fun or more profitable. They don’t tell you how motivated the owners were. They don’t tell you what the owners went on to do next.

Unfortunately, a lot of those bricks-and-mortar business owners have never educated themselves about marketing or sales. They “don’t have time” to read and implement a course or a book on marketing. For a high-overhead business, marketing is a necessity, not a luxury. You don’t have the time to wait around for word of mouth. If you don’t get enough customers through your doors before you run out of cash, you lose.

Risk is manageable. You can have a successful business. But you need to have some idea about what you’re doing. I started my business without a business degree or much know-how when it came to business. But I learned as I went along that marketing is extremely important. I’ve been in business 17 years now and still updating my marketing strategies on a regular basis.



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