There has never been a better time to market. Heck! There has never been a more important time to market. So, why is it that so many companies would rather drink poison, than market? Why is it that most companies will do anything, and I mean anything, but market their companies? I just don’t get it. Especially now when we cannot even go out and visit customers?

Interesting sidebar: all of the companies who have been marketing their companies for years, are doing very well during these down times. Three that I know of are almost overbooked with business right now…and none of their salespeople have made a live sales call since March. Another company I work with has gone on a full-scale marketing  binge and has doubled their sales since September of last year …during a pandemic for heaven’s sake!

And yet, so many people still stick to their beliefs that marketing doesn’t work for them.

The sad thing is that so many of these companies have great stories to tell; they are building great products and delivering them on time every time.  They assume – incorrectly – that if you build it, they will come. 

But now, especially in these lock down times when many of their customers are suffering and not booking as much business, These companies’ sales are down. At a time when they need to be acquiring new customers, they are not out there, and with no marketing no one can find them! 

Right now, with many people working from home and using the internet as a resource, sharp companies have to make sure that they are on the internet, and that yes, they will show up on Google searches. That they will be found!

Over the years I have taken the time to jot down some of the more prevalent and sometimes creative reasons that people will tell me why they don’t need to market their company:

1.  We have all the business we need so there is no reason at all to market our company. What are we going to do with more business?
2. It doesn’t work, we tried it once, we put an ad in a magazine for a month and never got a single order….not a one! The same thing happened when we sent out one newsletter…again nothing happened.
3. We build great products. Our products are so good that people come to see us. No need to do anything else.
4. I hate commercials and I am not going to pay for any of my own, that’s for sure!
5. Business is down right now, I need to wait for things to get better. Then, and only then, will I consider doing some marketing.
6. Once the shop is running perfectly, I’ll do some marketing and advertising.
7. I’m too busy with the business I have already to even think about doing some marketing right now.
8. Nobody else in my business is doing any marketing so why should I?
9. The only companies that need marketing are the ones with lousy products. I’ve got great products, so I don’t need marketing.
10. There is something that sounds so desperate about marketing and pushing your company, that I don’t want any part of it.

And of course, one more…well you know why. And my personal favorite:

1. We don’t market or advertise in our business. Frankly, I consider it cheating, we should be able to do business and win business on our own merit.

What? Really? Yup, that’s what they said, and the most intriguing thing is that more than one company has said this. In fact, many years ago when a company started sending out postcards with per-layer pricing many people yelled, “foul!” saying that these were unfair business practices! It was as if we were in the medical profession, or even legal profession. My how that’s changed, calling Joe Bornstein!

But this is the way companies in our industry thought back then and many of them have not changed a bit. That might be why we have gone from over fifteen hundred PCB shops to less than two hundred. Ya Think?

But let’s end on a good note, because it has now, during these challenging times, that the companies who pay attention to marketing, the companies who have been kicking up their marketing efforts through this pandemic, are actually seeing results for their efforts. They are growing, they are picking up new customers at a rapid pace and they are succeeding.

But lest we forget, they are also working very hard on their marketing. They are coming up with new and innovative ways to get their names out there. Not just advertising, but also publishing ebooks, offering technical webinars, sending out newsletters and sales flashes. And all the time doing it with professionalism and consistency while offering their customers and prospective customers important and valuable content. They are creating a great company reputation, and becoming a brand to their customers. You need to do it too. If you have actually made any of the statements listed above, then you should be embarrassed to the point of making a change in the way you think and start treating marketing with the respect it deserves. That’s only common sense.