Big Ideas, Short on Bandwidth: Why Small Business Owners Benefit from Hiring a Strategic Marketing Partner

We hear it all the time: “I know just enough to be dangerous, but I don’t have the time.”

Small business owners wear many hats — and it can be easy to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do much more than “get by.”

From HR paperwork to recruiting and talent management to bookkeeping, the responsibilities of running a business are endless.

In the majority of our initial conversations with small business owners about developing marketing strategies, a common sentiment surfaces: Each entrepreneur shares about his or her vision with equal parts pride and disappointment.

The challenge of having remarkable ideas but struggling to prioritize them due to other, oftentimes more pressing demands is a real and tangible thing.

We feel your pain.

Many a discussion has been had with big-thinkers who have even bigger plans to become better-known, expand or take on a new venture. Some have participated in a program like the Huffington Post or Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses support initiatives. Others graduated with a degree in marketing or spent years in the PR industry before opening their doors.

Most of their ideas and notebook of to-dos have been relatively untapped, however, because of time and bandwidth constraints that forced these next steps for business growth onto the shelf.

Here’s the good news: These hurdles are easier to overcome than you think.

If you’ve resolved to take your small business marketing to the next level, consider enlisting the support of a strategic partner who can not only complement your expertise with his or her own but has the time to implement ideas.

At Approach, we thrive on helping inspired business owners actually bring their plans to life.

Partnering with an agency is a new concept for many small business owners who are used to managing all aspects of their business alone. While it may seem like an overwhelming hill to climb to transition your ideas into action, we have a process to get you moving.

Here’s how you can expect an agency relationship to begin and continually support you:

• The Strategy Session: Before we dig into a plan, we want to understand everything you’re facing and have been thinking about. As your partner, we take these concerns on as our own as we look to help you succeed. Together, we arrive at the audience to reach and job to be done. We also establish, early on, the ways we’ll work most efficiently together. Do you prefer regularly-scheduled video calls or emails? Do you want to implement some of the tactics or simply be kept abreast of our efforts and progress?
• The Plan: After we dig into your business challenge, we set out to determine the measurable objectives, strategies, tactics and timeline to accomplish your goals. We can adopt your ideas, help to expand them and create a customized plan designed to take your business to the next level.
• Efficient Implementation: Collaborating with a marketing partner is one of the easiest ways to remove a sizable task from your plate. While an agency can’t magically add more hours to your clock, we can serve as an extension of you (or your team, if you have one) by remaining dedicated to marketing every day. This leaves you with time to focus on other things. We make an easy and efficient transition and equip you with all of the elements you need to stay informed. Enlisting a marketing partner should never mean losing a voice or control over how your business is positioned — Approach believes in working alongside you.
• Measuring Success: We know that it’s essential to demonstrate a return on your investment, and this is where we pride ourselves. Every tactic we pursue corresponds with a measure of success. We are always analyzing the outcome of our efforts to be able to dial up what’s working best for you so that every penny is maximized.

For less than a business owner might spend on a robust direct mail campaign or advertising, a PR agency can develop a highly-targeted campaign to reach your specific audience with credible content, messaging and valuable word-of-mouth recommendations. Plans are always scalable and can be tailored to your business’ needs and budget.

Want to learn more? Read how we helped a local franchise raise brand awareness and bring new members into the fold.