Whether or not they went to business school, every business owner should know how important marketing is. No business can succeed without it. They might not purchase advertising, but some form of marketing is essential if a business is to make it. Without it, no one would know what you do or that you even exist.

Simply putting up a sign in front of your business (or setting up a website if you’re in business online) is not considered marketing. If you want to thrive, you have to do more than that. You need to identify your target market, determine how to appeal to them most effectively, and build your brand. You need to find opportunities to get the word out about your business, whether it’s through free publicity or paid advertising. And you need to constantly evaluate your results to make sure things are moving in the right direction. It’s all very important but it can also be very overwhelming, especially to a small business owner.

Running a marketing campaign can be all-consuming if you let it, leaving little time for you to concentrate on the moneymaking aspects of your business. But if it’s gotten that far, something is wrong. By finding out what the problem is, you can fix it and get more rewards for your marketing efforts. Here are some tips to help you do that.

* Look at your conversion rates. Do you have to reach hundreds of customers just to get one sale? If so, perhaps you’re not targeting your marketing efforts well enough.

* Do some more research on your target market. Send out surveys to determine how they respond to your marketing efforts. This will allow you to reinforce and expand on what you’re doing right and quit what you’re doing wrong.

* Have a professional analyze your sales copy. There will be a fee, but if you’re doing your own copywriting, it’s worth it. A pro can point out things that could be hurting your sales that are not obvious to the average person.

* Make tracking your results as easy as possible. Give your customers incentives to tell you where they saw your ads, and add tracking codes to your URLs in online marketing. This will cut down on guesswork and help you market more effectively.

These steps can help you fix your marketing so it’s more effective and less time-consuming. But what if it’s not broken? What if you’re getting plenty of prospects and conversions, but you’re still feeling overwhelmed? You could cut back on your marketing efforts. But if things are going well, why not outsource some marketing tasks? This will allow you to continue doing what works and have time to concentrate on other business matters too.

Marketing is essential to any business, but it’s important not to let it get out of hand. By taking the time to evaluate your efforts and make changes when necessary, you can spend less time, energy and money on marketing in the long run.