Marketing isn’t in their DNA. The founder often is expert in their industry, and had to become at least competent at sales or the company wouldn’t survive, but they simply had no exposure to marketing along the way. They may think of marketing as a cost rather than an investment in growth.

Marketing has become so complex. While 30 years ago there were only six or eight ways to reach a customer, today there are dozens of marketing channels including websites, email, social media, search ads, syndicated content and on and on. With technologies such as marketing automation, predictive analytics, and marketing attribution, the terminology is foreign and off-putting to businesspeople who haven’t been deeply involved with it.

What works changes rapidly. In the dynamic marketing landscape, marketing channels can become exhausted, and their cost per lead can escalate dramatically if competitors discover them. For example, while social media still gets a lot of attention, in fact its effectiveness for brands peaked around 2013 when social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn changed their algorithms to show the posts of brands far less; today the post of a brand typically is seen by less than 2 percent of its followers. (Social media ads, though, may still be a good opportunity.)

Education on the value of marketing, customer insights, how the vendor itself uses it to drive growth and how channel partners can launch and scale their own programs.

Support on execution. Like anything in business, knowledge and plans are meaningless without consistent, excellent execution.

Fully exploit their existing marketing assets. That happens by actions such as improving their website, ramping up their email programs (still ranked by marketers as one of the top marketing channels), and improving collaboration between their sales and marketing teams. These Phase 1 programs are built on marketing assets that many companies don’t even realize they have and are like forgotten money stored in a shoe box under the bed. As a result they are typically inexpensive – often free – and can produce results in weeks or a few months, helping create buy-in for expanding into the other phases.

Sell to people who want to buy now. Our markets are much smaller than we think they are because unless you’re selling something that people consume every day, like food, it may be months or years before a particular customer is interested in buying your product. Just as a person who bought a new car last month is unlikely to buy another one soon, a company that made a major capital purchase may be unlikely to repeat that particular purchase soon. Even service providers may not be reviewed until they displease the client. So it’s important to use tools such as search ads and third-party intent data that identify customers who plan to buy now.

Cast a wider net with long-term awareness and brand-building programs. This is where blogging, social media, display ads and other awareness programs come into play. While in the long run they may be valuable, these typically can take two or three years – or longer – to produce significant amounts of leads and sales.

Helping them develop marketing strategies and action plans.

Providing ongoing consultation and support on the execution of the marketing programs.

Furnishing managed marketing services, acting in the short run as a marketing department for companies as they build their own.