Hey there! I hope you’re having a great week. I’m sure you’re super busy (I know I am) so I think I’m just going to dive right into this week’s post.

The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said, ‘Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated’.

For small business owners, this is sometimes easier said than done. So I’d like to take some time today to look at how we (as small business owners) can make our lives a little less complicated, without getting stuck behind a computer.

Now, we all know that small business owners often have to do more with less. That means you’re spending the bulk of your time servicing our customers or overseeing the production or sales of your products.

There’s almost no time for anything else, but you know that marketing your business on the web is only becoming more and more vital to the success of your business.

The digital marketing landscape is changing all the time and there is a lot to keep up with – and it takes time to get really good at it. The learning curve is steep and this is one of the few times I would say you’re better off hiring someone who understands digital marketing than trying to learn it yourself.

I will always advocate taking the time to educate yourself about marketing your business. It keeps you from being an easy target and allows you to have more meaningful and productive conversations with the people you decide to farm your digital marketing services out to.

You should definitely do you homework, but I don’t think it would be prudent to dump a bunch of time to dive deep into the actual “mechanics” of it if you have the budget to hire someone.

Having said that, doing nothing just isn’t an option. If you know you really just won’t have the time to DIY your digital marketing and you’re ready to take your business to the next level – you’ll need to find the money and make an effort to hire someone to do it for you.

Now you could hire individual vendors on your own or leave part of the your digital marketing “in-house” but I still would recommend a full service, on-demand digital marketing service like Main Street Hub or Marketing 360. If you want to take your business to the next level but keep your expenses in check, this is the way to go.

I know it will be tough to make the investment in the beginning, but this type of service will save you money and a lot of heartache in the long run. You’ll have access to an experienced team of people, as opposed to having access to just one or two.

You’ll be able to put your marketing virtually on autopilot and it will be at a fraction of the cost of trying to keep an “agency on retainer”. Most boutique agencies charge a minimum of 5 figures a month and are simply out of the small business owner’s reach.

There are a lot of digital marketing services out there and I’ve talked about this in other posts – but here’s the point I’m trying to bring home. You don’t really have the time to do this – you’re just too busy working with your customers day-in and day-out. And if we’re really being honest, there’s just too much to keep up with here.

If you think about it, it’s not that different from doing your own taxes. Sure you could do your own taxes, but who wants to keep up with all of the changes and regulations and fees? You don’t. That’s why you gladly pay your accountant to worry about it – because that’s what they’re good at and that’s what you pay them for right?

Exactly. So why set your hair on fire trying to figure out all this digital marketing stuff all on your own? Look, we’re all good at something and we’re all really bad at other things – and that’s OK! There’s no shame in it.

You should pat yourself on the back for taking the time to read blogs like this one to better educate yourself about this stuff because let’s face it – we can’t afford to ignore this stuff anymore.

This is what it means to run a business. I’m in the same boat with you. There are lots of things that you have to do when you run a business that have nothing to do with the product or service you offer. But we have to do it.

We have to pay our taxes and deal with the rent, the health insurance and how we’re going to get that thing out of customs. The list goes on and on, but this is one thing that I would tell any small business owner to take the time and find the money to invest in.

Nothing is going to impact small businesses, going forward like the web and this is a GREAT opportunity for us. For the first time, in a very long time, a small business can truly reach out to a whole new crop of customers that they never would have been able to reach before.

That’s something to get excited about because that means more growth and more business for you.

Alright well that’s it for me this week. I hope I left you with some “food for thought”, but as always I would like to hear from you.

Question: What’s the biggest problem you’re facing when it comes to marketing your business? Share your questions, comments and concerns below.

Like what you see? Then join the conversation!
If you like this post, please “like” it on Facebook or share it with your friends on Twitter or LinkedIn.