Entrepreneurship is inherently risky: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 45% of businesses fail within the first 5 years. While ineffective marketing is far from the only impediment to entrepreneurial success, a failure to launch a powerful marketing strategy doesn’t bode well for the future. Valentina Borbone, owner and founder of the regional boutique marketing agency Banter Group, paints us a dire picture: “In my profession, I see a lot of companies surviving instead of thriving due to an unsuccessful approach to marketing — it’s a shame.”
Banter Group is an Australian team of marketing professionals that helps businesses work out the best way to achieve their goals, using marketing tactics. The Bowral-based agency offers services ranging from brand design and marketing strategy to social media management and anything in between. In just five years, Valentina expanded the Banter team to encompass 18 dedicated marketing experts. Together, they worked with over 350 clients, ranging from small businesses in regional townships to large multinationals.
Valentina herself has been a digital marketing educator and trainer since 2008. Furthermore, she is a seasoned speaker and digital marketing educator, having spent 10 years crafting and teaching the ADMA Digital Marketing Certificate, Digital Essentials and Email Marketing short courses, Intensive classes and online formats. Her hands-on experience in delivering marketing solutions with results has found her sharing this expertise as a keynote, conference and event speaker covering all aspects of digital across multiple industries. Some of these include renowned events such as Digital Live and DigiMarCon – Digital Marketing Trends.
In short, Valentina knows her stuff. Why, then, do so many businesses fail with their marketing? The marketing specialist break it down for us:
- Most businesses fail because they don’t have a marketing plan, and if they do, they don’t do anything with it
- They fail because they have limited marketing knowledge and resource and so the default position is to do very little and to do it badly
- Sales always blames marketing and marketing blames sales – marketing is a whole-business approach to selling products
- Don’t try and do everything yourself. Divide and conquer and start with a strategic plan. Doing activities/tactics without a plan is aimless.
- Many business owners have unreasonable expectations and budgets.
Valentina summarises: “90% of the time marketing is considered the silver bullet. Have a researched and considered approach to your marketing efforts. Remember if it’s too good to be true, it often is exactly that. If it’s “too cheap”, you should expect a cheap outcome. Expensive doesn’t mean good, and good doesn’t mean expensive, but do your research and make sure you compare apples to apples.” The Marketing Strategy specialist continues with one final round of advice: “If your company has little in-house marketing know-how simply leave it up to the professionals. We all have our specialities… It’s always better to focus on your strengths! The ability to develop an effective marketing strategy is a skill like any other — one that has to be acquired through years of learning, hands-on experience, and building up knowledge. Ensure that everything is thriving on your side —business is running smoothly, you’re making a profit, cultivate a healthy and inspiring work atmosphere— and we’ll help you reach your marketing goals!”
Looking for an experienced agency to achieve your marketing goals? Banter Group offers businesses a flexible approach to dial the necessary services up or down as business needs change. Check out the Banter Group website for strategic advice, website development, branding and much more!
