I've been involved in sales and marketing since 1998 and have spent the whole time with start-up companies or small companies going through tremendous growth phases. Every company had a very entrepreneurial culture but it wasn't until I started my own company, Deep Dish Digital, that the full brunt of what it takes to be an entrepreneur hit me in the face. My company sells marketing services and being an entrepreneur has taught me some valuable lessons about marketing that are tough to learn if you're only just an employee.
I'm glad I spent time in start-ups since it forced me to learn something about the individual facets of what it takes to run a business - Accounting, staffing, operations, product management, IT, sales, and, of course, marketing. Having at least a little knowledge in all these areas was a major benefit in making the transition from employee to employer. Besides the importance of cash-flow (cash is your number one priority - sell and save), entrepreneurship taught me that good marketing is what separates the amateurs from the professionals.
Many entrepreneurs go into business because they are good or passionate about something but don't realize that being good at something isn't good enough. To be successful you need to convince others you're good and not just at what you do. You need to portray that you're good at branding, customer service, workmanship, and have a finger on the pulse of your industry.
You are what your prospects and customers think you are. Unless you have design experience, creating your own logo and website will likely look amateur. Sure, you might be happy with it, but believe me it's not as good as it should be. Hire some reputable help to develop your business identity - it's not an expense, it's an investment. This investment should include a logo, website, business cards, and any other promotional materials you might need. You only have one chance to make a first impression so you better make it count.
Once you have a professional looking identity established, you will need to start convincing people of your expertise. There will always be somebody who's better than you at something but that doesn't matter, what matters is that you're a perceived expert at something. The best way to achieve this is to educate instead of postulate - People won't believe you if you tell them you're good at something so you actually need to show them. Offer to do free presentations at the local chamber of commerce, write a blog, produce videos, or start an email newsletter. My entire marketing strategy has been based on this - Share your story, don't sell your story. If you're shy or not good at presenting, then you need to find a way to overcome these handicaps.
Once you've started building some awareness as well groomed and knowledgeable, you will likely start to get some requests to partner with others or expand your offerings. You need to be very picky about your partnerships and products/services. Partnerships and new initiatives have a very high failure rate and pursuing them also distracts from concentrating on your core competencies. Say "no" to more things you say "yes" to and develop a strict system for evaluating opportunities.
Obviously, you need to remain adaptable but being focussed on your priorities is more important than sampling whatever flavour of the month might come your way. This especially applies to your marketing strategy - It's very common to see companies quickly switching marketing strategies and tactics without giving any particular one the time or resources to succeed/fail. Unless you're doing a direct sales campaign (E.g limited time coupon) the time it usually takes to evaluate a marketing strategy can be months if not years and requires measurement. At the end of day, marketing is difficult to measure so if you only give things half a chance and only rely on anecdotal evidence regarding their success then you'll be continuously frustrated and so will your staff.
And the final significant lesson entrepreneurship taught me about marketing is that nobody owes your company anything or thinks about your well being. Your job is to serve and being ignored, forgotten, or blamed is common place. Don't be a doormat; earn respect. The responsibility is on you to make things happen so if at first you don't succeed it's because you haven't tried hard enough. Failure isn't because you didn't succeed at something it's because you didn't try until it worked.
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