Do you know what your customers want? Do you think your customers trust your products? When was the last time you saw a customer tweeting about your product or service? Was it a complaint or compliment?

The answers to all these questions lie in marketing.

How you market your business determines if the enterprise will be successful or not. Marketing is a tool used to create and maintain demand, relevance, reputation, competition and more. Without it, your business is likely to close down due to lack of sales.

So why is marketing important? Check out these 9 reasons why you really do need it.

1. Marketing Is an Effective Way of Engaging Customers

It’s important for your business to engage its customers. Marketing is a tool to keep the conversation going.

Engaging customers is different from pushing your offers. Engaging involves furnishing your customers with relevant information about your products and your business as well. It’s all about creating fresh content.

Tell your customers what they don’t know. Let it be interesting and worth their time.

Social media is one of the best platforms where you can engage your customers. Some organizations use short videos and other humor-laden tricks to engage their customer base.

By engaging your customers, marketing gives them a sense of belonging.

2. Marketing Helps to Build and Maintain the Company’s Reputation

The growth and life span of your business is positively correlated to your business’s reputation. Hence, it’s fair to say your reputation determines your brand equity.

A majority of marketing activities are geared towards building the brand equity of the company.

Your business’s reputation is built when it effectively meets the expectations of its customers. Such a business is considered a responsible member of the community. The customers become proud to be associated with your products.

Marketers use effective communication, branding, PR and CSR strategies to ensure that a business’s reputation is maintained.

3. Marketing Helps to Build a Relationship Between a Business and Its Customers

Businesses need to build a relationship of trust and understanding with their customers. How does marketing establish this relationship?

Marketing research segments should be based on demographics, psychographics, and consumer behavior.

Segmentation helps the business meet the needs of its customers hence gaining their trust. The product team ensures the business delivers what’s promised at the right time. This makes the customers brand loyal.

Loyal customers will have the confidence to buy more products from you. The trust and understanding between the business and its customers make your commercial activities more fruitful.

4. Marketing Is a Communication Channel Used to Inform Customers

Marketing informs your customers about the products or services you’re offering them.

Through marketing, the customers get to know about the value of the products, their usage and additional info that might be helpful to the customers. It creates brand awareness and makes the business stand out.

There’s stiff competition in the market and you need to be a constant voice to convince the customers. Inform your customers of discounts and other competitive tricks you intend to use.

Through communication, marketing helps your business become a market leader. Twitter Tweet