Let me guess…you didn’t start your business to become a marketer full-time? And now you’re trying to grow your small business and realizing that marketing (or even just thinking about marketing) is taking up a lot of your time? Well, it’s not the worst thing because it’s a really important hat that you wear! So today we are talking about why marketing is important for small businesses, what tools small businesses can use to make their marketing easier, and how to measure if all the time we spend marketing (or thinking, dreaming, worrying about marketing) is actually worth it. Ready to get started?

Let’s count off what we’ll cover:

1. Why marketing is important
2. Marketing tools you can use to do it well
3. How you can get started marketing your small business

OK Enji, Why Is Marketing Important?

Without marketing, you don’t have customers. And without customers, you don’t have a business. It's as simple as that. 

Marketing is the engine that drives awareness to your brand/product/service, generates leads, and ultimately converts looky-lous into loyal customers who rave about your product or service over and over again. For small businesses, marketing efforts need to be strategic, targeted, and effective to maximize our (limited time) and money.

Let’s go even deeper into the 5 reasons why marketing is important.

1. Generating Leads

One of the biggest reasons why marketing is important for small businesses is because it helps bring in new leads. Whether it's through social media posts, email newsletters, or making your website show up on Google, good marketing gets people interested in what you offer. When you connect with the right crowd and give them something valuable, you can turn that interest into real inquiries. 

2. Brand Awareness

One of the most important reasons why marketing is important for small businesses is that it significantly increases brand awareness. By consistently showing up, you are making sure more people become familiar with your brand. Even if you’re not trying to become the next Amazon, this increased visibility helps your business stand out from the competition, making potential customers more likely to remember and choose your products or services. 

And while we are talking about branding, consistent branding across your marketing channels is what really helps your business remain top-of-mind. We talk more about why even small business owners need to care about their brand here. Our brand kits on Enji were one of the first features we ever created, which tells you a little bit about how truly important we think it is.

3. Communicating with Your Customers

Another key reason why marketing is important for small businesses is that it helps you communicate directly with your customers. Today, especially with Gen Z, there's an expectation to interact with brands on social media. They want to ask questions, share experiences, and see real responses in real-time. 

So by being active social media marketing, small businesses can engage with their audience, answer inquiries, address concerns, and build a community around their brand. And this open line of communication not only increases customer satisfaction but also fosters trust and loyalty, making your brand more relatable and desirable in today’s online world.

Pssst: Before you jump into trying to better communicate with your customers through your marketing, make sure you read this post all about creating customer personas to help you be more effective in your marketing!

4. Relationship Marketing

As a small business, the importance of relationships can’t be emphasized enough. Because building strong relationships with suppliers, influencers, past (and happy) customers, and other key stakeholders is often the most effective marketing channel for small businesses!, Relationship marketing focuses on creating long-term connections that benefit everyone, whether that means collaboration, cross-promotion, or simply showing up in a way that reminds people that they can trust referring you.

Relationship marketing doesn’t always mean affiliate marketing, but often it does. So if you’re thinking about setting up an affiliate program in your business, make sure to read this article about creating an affiliate program for your small business.

5. Building Trust

Last but not least, when we look at why marketing is important one of the biggest reasons is that it builds trust. When customers trust your brand, they are more likely to make repeat purchases, refer others, and engage with your business on a deeper level.

Transparency, authenticity, and delivering high-quality products or services are key components of building trust through your marketing. You can also share things like customer testimonials or case studies to reinforce your brand's reliability and integrity (in a way that big box stores could never).

Now That We’ve Answered Why Marketing Is Important, Let’s Talk About Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

To market effectively as a small business, you need the right tools. Because using marketing tools can save you time, streamline your efforts, and enhance your overall strategy—especially when they were designed for small business owners who have to do their own marketing. 

Here are some essential tools every small business should consider:

AI Writing Assistants

Wouldn’t it be great if you could hire an assistant that you didn’t have to manage? AI writing tools like Enji’s AI Copywriter can help you create content quickly without sacrificing quality. Seriously – we were ruthless when we set up our prompts to make sure you weren’t staring at a blank page or accepting mediocre AI responses. Plus, ours is integrated with our social media scheduler, so you never have to overthink an Instagram caption ever again.

Campaign Templates

While you know you need to market your business consistently, it’s easy to get caught up in wondering what exactly to do next. That’s why you need campaign templates like the ones we have in Enji. This way, when you make the decision to prioritize SEO for a quarter, Enji gives you a pretty manageable to-do list to show you what it would look like to actually get that done. 

Analytics Tools

Last but not least, you need some sort of tool to measure your KPIs (or what’s working in your business). We’ve talked about why marketing is important, but now we need to remind you that you can't just throw spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks. You've got to track your efforts to know if your small business marketing strategy is working! This is a great thing because not only will you be able to do more of what’s working, but you’ll also be able to give yourself a big fat permission slip to stop doing what’s not working.

Can you believe Enji has them all? When we built our marketing tools, we knew that small businesses already have enough tabs open. We ambitiously set out to create something that would have everything in one place, and then we did it. Find out more (and start your free trial) here.

Now that you know why marketing is important, let’s get started.

In case we haven’t stressed this enough yet, marketing is the lifeblood of any successful small business. By bringing in leads, boosting brand awareness, and building strong customer relationships, good marketing helps your business grow and stay growing. We love to see it!

Ready to take your marketing efforts seriously this year? Start your free trial on Enji and we will create a doable marketing plan for you within minutes (seriously – just answer 20 multiple-choice questions). From there, we’ll create a marketing calendar and give you a to-do list that will make you excited to actually start checking things off and make progress in your marketing again.

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