The importance of understanding marketing as a business owner

Having held the Marketing Summit Cumbria last Friday, and hearing the amazing feedback from our attendees, I felt inspired to write a blog on the importance of business owners understanding marketing.

As business owners, we often wear many different hats, but one of our primary roles should be to market our business effectively.

We had 30 delegates join us on Friday, each of whom had paid for their ticket and taken valuable time out of their business to learn more about how to market their business.

Whether you're doing the marketing yourself or hiring external support, having a strong understanding of marketing is essential. Just as important is the willingness to invest both time and money into growing that understanding.

Why business owners need to understand marketing

Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. Without customers, you don’t have a business, and without marketing, potential customers won’t even know you exist. For many small and medium-sized business owners, the responsibility of marketing falls directly on their shoulders. And even if you outsource this function to professionals, it’s still crucial that you, as the business owner, understand the fundamentals.

You know your business best

As a business owner, you have the deepest knowledge of your products, services, and the problems they solve for your customers. When you understand marketing, you can better communicate your unique value proposition. You know what makes your business different, and marketing is how you convey that difference to your audience.

Having a solid grasp of marketing allows you to maintain the right tone, message, and brand identity throughout all your marketing efforts, even if you're working with a marketing team or external agency.

You can better assess marketing strategies

Hiring external marketing support is a common choice for many business owners, but without a good understanding of marketing yourself, it can be difficult to evaluate the strategies presented to you.

Understanding marketing allows you to make informed decisions. You'll be able to ask the right questions, ensure that the strategies align with your business goals, and evaluate whether your marketing spend is delivering results.

When you understand the basics of marketing metrics, SEO, social media, and content strategy, you can avoid being led in the wrong direction or wasting resources on ineffective strategies.

It helps you stay competitive

An understanding of marketing helps you stay ahead of the game. By keeping up with industry trends, consumer behaviours, and new digital marketing tools, you can pivot your marketing strategy quickly if needed.

The world of marketing is ever-changing, particularly with the rise of digital platforms. As a business owner, if you're not learning and adapting, your competitors are. Staying informed about the latest marketing practices can give you a competitive edge, ensuring that your brand remains visible and relevant.

Understanding the basics of marketing

The truth is, marketing isn’t one single activity like posting on social media or sending out an email newsletter. It’s a holistic process that starts with understanding your audience and ends with driving measurable results for your business.

Key areas of marketing that every business owner should understand, include:

Defining your target audience
Setting clear marketing goals
Developing key marketing messages
Choosing the right marketing channels
Measuring marketing performance

The role of external support

While it's essential to understand marketing, that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. Many business owners decide to hire external support for their marketing.

However, even if you’re working with external support, having a fundamental understanding of marketing helps you make informed decisions. It also allows you to effectively communicate your business goals, ensuring that your marketing efforts are aligned with your vision.

It helps you set clear goals and expectations when working with an external team.
It ensures you can make informed decisions about your marketing strategies.
It allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing efforts and hold external support accountable.

Investing in your marketing knowledge

The feedback from the Marketing Summit Cumbria reinforced an important point - business owners recognise the need to invest time and money into understanding marketing.

But why is investing in marketing knowledge so crucial?

Avoiding costly mistakes: Without marketing knowledge, business owners often fall into common traps—wasting money on ineffective ads, choosing the wrong marketing channels, or creating content that doesn’t resonate. Understanding marketing helps you avoid these mistakes and make smarter, more informed decisions.
Maximising resources: Small businesses typically operate with limited budgets and time. Knowing the basics of marketing allows you to prioritise efforts, ensuring that every penny and every minute you invest has a purpose and a measurable outcome.
Encouraging growth: A business owner who understands marketing is encouraged to drive their business forward. Rather than relying solely on external support, they have the skills to create effective strategies, experiment with new ideas, and ultimately grow their business.

At the Marketing Summit Cumbria, we provided tools and resources to make marketing more accessible. Business owners left with a deeper understanding and confidence that they could take their marketing into their own hands or work more effectively with professionals.

It’s important to understand that marketing isn’t a ‘set it and forget it’ process. It’s an ongoing journey that requires continuous learning and adaptation. As a business owner, you need to be proactive in seeking out knowledge, and experimenting with new strategies.

Attending events like the Marketing Summit Cumbria, taking online courses, reading marketing books, and even networking with other business owners can all help build your marketing knowledge. It’s about equipping yourself with the tools you need to grow your business effectively.

What can you do next?

If you’re ready to take charge of your marketing efforts, here are a few steps you can take:

Audit your marketing efforts: Review your current marketing activities. Are they aligned with your business goals? Are they effective? This audit can help you identify areas for improvement.
Invest in learning: Commit to learning more about marketing. This could be through workshops, online courses, or events like the Marketing Summit Cumbria.
Define your target audience: If you haven’t already, take the time to clearly define your target audience. Knowing your audience is the foundation for all your marketing efforts.
Set clear goals: Establish what you want to achieve with your marketing. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or boosting sales, setting clear goals will guide your strategy.
Create a marketing plan: Develop a simple marketing plan that outlines your goals, strategies, and metrics for success. Remember, it doesn’t have to be complicated—just enough to keep you on track.

It’s easy to view marketing as a secondary activity, something that happens only when time allows. But in reality, marketing is a core business function—one that has a direct impact on a business’s growth and sustainability.

You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to make a start. Remember, small, consistent actions, lead to great achievements over time.

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