Are small businesses being failed by traditional marketing methods?

Essential marketing?

When I set up my own small business, I remember all the focus at first being on creating the business itself – finding a name and a web address, getting advisors in place and getting the business registered. Of course, money was tight and I wanted to buy in only the bare essential services while I built up the business.

One of those essentials seemed to be some form of promotional marketing. As a new business offering professional services it was no good relying solely on existing contacts and networking opportunities. These had to be aligned with a decent website and some targeted marketing to let the world know about my existence. And all this had to be augmented by the considered use of social media outlets such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and LinkedIn, and even sites like Pinterest. 

The ‘push’ marketing model is broken

However, it didn’t take long for me to feel that something was wrong. The system wasn’t working for me. I was becoming just another consultancy service showering prospective clients with sales messages they didn’t really want. Instead of winning new customers, I was in danger of seriously putting them off completely.  At first, the only way I could see to get over the problem was to spend more time and money on marketing communications to make my content different, be smarter about how I focused on the market and be even more targeted on potential clients.

Then it struck me. It wasn’t that my messages were wrong; it was that the model of marketing communications itself was wrong. And it wasn’t just wrong for a services business like mine. It was wrong for many businesses and small businesses in particular. As a small business owner, I just couldn’t afford to spend the time and incur the cost pushing out my messages to potential clients in the vain hope that they would happen to land in their inboxes and doormats at just the right time. Traditional marketing communications lore deemed it a success if there was a 2% positive response to flyers and if 35% of emails were opened. Well that just wasn’t good enough for me. It wasn’t generating what counted – new clients.

The marketplace alternative

What was needed was a way for me to gain access to businesses and individuals who had an actual need for my services, in the right location and with a valid budget. If I could focus on real unmet demand then my success rate would be much higher. And if I could pay for that promotion on a commission basis only when I concluded a deal then I would have greater control over my spend and increase my margins.

If only a Marketplace model had been there for me back then. The ability for my prospective clients to easily discover my services when they had a real need for them and for my business to attract these real prospects through one on-line marketplace would have been ideal.  I certainly wouldn’t have spent as much time and money on ineffective marketing.  

Isn’t it about time we moved away from the traditional ‘push’ marketing method and embraced a Marketplace model that really attracts customers and favours small businesses?