Mid-Missouri Marketing Resource Blog

When you hear the words “marketing budget” do you cringe? Do you immediately imagine your bank account running dry? At least you’re budgeting for marketing, right? You throw a few leftover dollars into that category and cross your fingers and hope your return will be high. What’s wrong with that, you may be asking? Everything! Marketing is an asset, not an expense.

Yes, it's August, but any smart business owner will tell you that it's already time to start making preparations for next year! As we inch closer and closer to the year 2020, we're sure that you'll hear the word “renew” get tossed around frequently in the business world. Unfortunately, after years of being used so often, the spark these words once ignited begins to dim. The implications behind them lose their power, causing their true meanings to become hazy.

If you're a business owner or a company leader, you know this dilemma all too well: You have new hires ready to join your team and excel in their new role, but the environment around the office isn’t where it should be. Your current team members aren’t engaged and turnover has created a revolving door of talent. This creates obstacles for leadership as they strive to not only bring in new talent, but retain their current team members. How do you grow your business if you are constantly working to maintain a consistent workforce?

As your business grows and evolves, so do business and marketing trends. What was once a best practice can change quickly these days due to technology and new research. Meanwhile, some philosophies and strategies manage to stand the test of time.

What thoughts run through your mind when you’re deciding whether or not to purchase something? Even something simple, like a loaf of bread from the grocery store? You likely consider the quality, the cost, the expiration date, the ingredients, the nutritional facts, and the other options on nearby shelves. Even if this decision is a quick one, there’s a psychological process that occurs: You feel the desire to take multiple things into account because obviously, you want to purchase something that makes the most sense for you!

Businesses across the country are frequently faced with the task of hiring new employees. No matter the industry, this job has become a prevalent challenge that too often plagues many companies. In fact, recent research determined that 45% of hiring managers find that they are regularly unable to fill much-needed positions due to an overall lack of qualified talent.

"Lead by example." It’s a tried and true approach to any leadership role. But just as new parents begin to find their kids picking up on their habits, managers and company leadership can find their employees emulating the behaviors they observe in the workplace. While sometimes this can be positive, there are also times when negative behaviors can develop as well. This then creates a domino effect: Once a few employees begin behaving in a certain way, it impacts the company culture and the entire team.

You have sifted through countless applications. You’ve conducted dozens of interviews. Now, you finally have the right candidate. They accept your job offer and together you set their start date, but now what? Do you play the waiting game until that first day, or do you schedule a time to check in with the candidate to keep communication open? Rather than letting the standard two weeks tick by without talking to your new recruit, we suggest you begin onboarding.

In today’s job market, prospective employees have more options than ever when it comes to their next professional venture. And with Millennials now making up the largest percentage of the current workforce, attitudes about job-hopping are shifting as well. That means many employees are keeping their options open for an opportunity where they can feel involved in a greater company vision. This could be setting up your business to lose strong performers as a result.

So how do you retain the new talent you’ve worked so hard to recruit? Look no further than your company culture.

In today’s global economy, approximately two-thirds of businesses survive the first two years, half of all businesses make it to five years, and only a third succeed to 10 years or more. That being said, if your business has survived several years of ongoing success, it’s certainly something to celebrate! However, with your continued business growth, you may start to believe you’ve reached every customer possible and the available leads are slim. As a result, your focus is on retaining current clients rather than hunting for new ones, in order to maintain the status quo.