Four things to understand about the power of marketing
One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is to underestimate the power and importance of marketing.
Right from the earliest days of a startup, marketing deserves a seat with the big boys: finance, human resources, operations, product development and sales.
It shouldn’t be an afterthought. And it’s not fluff.
“Marketing is a core part of the business strategy,” says Ravi Dindayal, director of marketing consulting at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). “Marketing isn’t just driving traffic, ads for online advertising and bothering people with email. It is understanding your customer segments, your value proposition, all the things fundamental to how you tell your story, how you market yourself and what you’re selling. To me, it really starts here.”