Most entrepreneurs and managers know that you need certain kinds of help to grow a business successfully. It’s hard to imagine launching a company without the help of an accountant, lawyer, banker, and an insurance advisor, but there is often someone missing from the list: a marketing advisor.

With more than 100,000 companies in the region, it’s surprising to learn that fewer than 300 of them employ any measure of marketing and advertising professional services. That statistic coincides with the small slate of publicly traded companies and the few well-known local brands. To get an idea of the value of a brand to a company, consider the world’s most recognized brand: Coca-Cola. It’s estimated that the brand alone is worth billions in the eyes of the investing public.

The Coke brand has enormous global market share, yet the product is far from being a nutritional necessity (unless you’re a rum drinker, that is). Let’s suppose that Coca-Cola’s management decided to stop advertising for six months—no ads, no radio, no “shelf talkers,” no branded trucks, no sponsorship of events, no contests, and no branded vending machines. Imagine what case and fountain sales would be like. Imagine market capitalization as investors switched to other stocks.

Does it sound preposterous? Ab-solutely! So what do these guys do when they need more revenues and profits? They advertise more. It’s complicated, sophisticated, and costly, but the business grows as a result. Now consider the Progress Marketer of the Year:

St. John’s-based cable company The Amazing Persona. When new owners took over Persona Communications, customer service was weak, there was no brand loyalty, and market share had dropped 18% from the company’s peak.

With the help of two agencies, a new brand was created and a new marketing campaign was implemented. The results: 23% growth in Internet users and 16% growth in digital cable sales. Today the company enjoys growing revenues and better cash flow. There are other firms and organizations that, due to their measurable marketing successes, were Marketer of the Year finalists. That’s the result of great marketing: return on investment.

To be fair, this magazine’s primary revenues come from the sale of advertising pages and sponsorships. However, the purpose of Progress is to promote the creation of wealth through profitable and responsible business growth. Businesses can’t grow without marketing elements in the plan. Marketing and advertising agencies can find ways to sell more of your stuff, more profitably. Marketer of the Year connects professional marketing counsel directly to the growth of sales, profits, and capital.
Many CEOs don’t think they need to advertise, while others believe they can bring the service in-house. If these companies chose to employ the services of professional marketing agencies, their businesses are much more likely to grow more strategically and more profitably.

You should try it.