Is Marketing the Secret Sauce?

Few things matter more to a business than marketing. The profitable difference between an enterprise being ready to meet market demand and actually doing so is reaching customers with our message of how we can help them. And how do we do that? Marketing.

When I first figured out that my interest in real estate could turn into a profitable, full time endeavor, I attended every class, training, and seminar available. I learned how to structure deals, the difference between an LLC and an S corporation, and the various ways to use real estate to build wealth. My head was more stuffed with real estate strategies than a movie goer with an extra large popcorn at a double-feature. I had gorged on every delectable technique to do deals at the real estate buffet. I had a belly ache from overeating on all the real estate strategies that one can use in real estate, depending on the market cycle. I was wiping grease from my lips when I suddenly realized that even though I was ready for anything, the phone was silent. All this knowledge and preparation, and no one to help. I realized there was something missing in the training I had received: marketing. Although it was certainly important to learn how to structure a real estate transaction, unless I put time and effort into marketing, there would be no customers to help and no profit.

That is when I undertook to learn everything I could about marketing. There is no one factor more influential in creating deal flow for a small business person than marketing. Filling one’s pipeline through marketing is essential to having sales for today and sales that develop over time for the future. Marketing is what brings customers in the door; it makes the phone ring; it attracts people to your website; it feeds you deals that build your business.

How could I have neglected such an important element in my business development. Why do most training programs in business neglect marketing? Are they afraid to share the secret sauce? Perhaps.

What I have learned is that marketing and sales need to be the highest priority in my business. And once the customer has been secured and the sale has taken place, a large part of the rest of the process can be outsourced. This week I hired a “transaction coordinator” to whom I can hand off my growing list of deals so she can run them to the goal line.  Why not do this myself? You may not believe this, but I was psychologically avoiding more deals because my pipeline was getting so full that I couldn’t handle all the many details each one involved. Instead, my role is to focus on creating business that others can assist me to handle. The more deals in process, the more profit, and the greater ability to hire more people to assist the operation. This is how a business grows. Many small business operators see an additional employee as another mouth to feed when in actuality the right person increases the bottom line because with more help you can create more deals, and wealth, than before. With the help you need, you can focus better on wealth creating activities like marketing and sales.

It is a very exciting time for entrepreneurs who figure out the importance of marketing in their business. Online marketing has made it possible for every small business to reach their target audience with increased precision and decreased cost compared to old school methods. Once we become convinced that our role as CEO is to make sure customers come in the door, our minds are open to a host of strategies we can use. 

And we do not have to do all the marketing ourselves. I hired a virtual assistant recently who does most of my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn marketing which require many repetitive tasks that would drive me to drink. But she enjoys it and is better at it than I am by far.  As a result, my business has a growing list of home sellers, home buyers, note buyers, note sellers, and joint venture participants that are eager to do business.

As a bonus to this article, here are a few of my favorite resources that have  helped me to both learn and implement a strong marketing program in my business ventures. (I do not receive any affiliate fee from them)

Those who want to know how to market their business need to have an online strategy. I can’t believe this is free. You will be amazed as well. This guy knows his stuff. http://TheChallenge.co

Do you want to know how your competition is advertising and how well it is working? Peek into their marketing programs with this amazing free tool: http://spyfu.com

Knowing the keywords that people are using in their search box to find your business is so important. This tool tells you what people are actually searching for, not what you think they are searching for. Then you can include those words in your online and offline marketing content. http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/

I hope that this focus on marketing will assist you in upgrading what you are doing in your business. May your enhanced marketing efforts in 2013 bring you greater opportunity, deal flow, and profit. Until next time, this is Brian Netzel.

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Brian Netzel is a real estate investor, hedge fund co-manager, business coach, and entrepreneur who uses and teaches smart money investing strategies to build wealth in this market. He is the founder of http://RealEstateNoteInvestor.com and http://SmartMoneyVision.com