Today is Texas Independence Day. On March 2, 1836, residents of the lone-star state declared their independence from Mexico. You might remember from your history classes that Texas was once an independent republic for nine years until they were admitted into the United States in 1845. What you might not remember – or ever heard of, for that matter – is the earlier rebellion in East Texas that resulted in the free nation of Fredonia.

Fredonia was born out of unrest with the Mexican government from a small group of people who had migrated to the area and expected to be granted land to settle. This happened in December 1826, nine years before Texas fought a war with Mexico for its independence. That’s when 30 settlers of Nacogdoches, Texas, who were upset over land titles, declared themselves independent of Mexico and overtook a fort. They entered into an agreement with the local Cherokee tribe who also had a beef with the Mexican authorities over land they thought was theirs. They raised the new flag of the Republic of Fredonia over the fort, with one white stripe and one red stripe to symbolize the uniting of the white and red races (see above). The new Republic of Fredonia lasted one month, one week and three days. That’s how long it took the Mexican authorities to reach a new agreement with the Cherokee over their land dispute and send a militia to take back the fort from the rebels. The leaders of the rebellion escaped into Louisiana and Fredonia was no more.

Now let me equate that to your business. I often get contacted by businesses that are looking to grow and need marketing to do so. Some are startups and others are just at a critical juncture in their business cycle. In both cases, they are looking to make a change that will help them grow the business. However, too many times expectations are unrealistic for any lasting permanence and that business growth they were banking on never shows up. I find that there are three problems that revolve around beliefs about marketing that can turn the hopes of business growth into abandoned ideas. If the business can come to terms with these three problems, they have a good chance of reaching their sales goals. If not, they will get tripped up.

There is a risk in marketing

Marketing is tasked with showing off the best features, advantages and benefits of a company’s products and services. The best marketing plans take into account the needs and wants of consumers in order to get a message in front of them that will catch their attention and entice them to make a purchase. However, people are fickle and sometimes the marketing does not work the way it was drawn up the first time. Even successful marketing needs to be tweaked every so often to make it work better. That being said, there is a risk that you will not get the desired results you are looking for in the first pass. There is no such thing as 100 percent foolproof marketing – that is unrealistic because we are dealing with people whose likes and dislikes change. That leads to the next unrealistic expectation.

There is a cost to marketing

I have been contacted many times by someone who has a great idea, but very little money. They believe in their product but have not raised the funds to take the idea to the marketplace. They are looking for "free” marketing. I suppose it is because we live in the age of the internet where we perceive that everything we could ever want will come to us without a cost. I use the word "perceive” because absolutely nothing you are viewing is free. You are in a transaction with a technology company to reveal bits and pieces about yourself so they can do business with companies who will pay to advertise to you. In other words, you will pay for what you are viewing when you are sold on down the line. Marketing is not cheap, but if you use it correctly, it will make you money. There is an ROI with marketing, but you have to invest before you get the returns.

Marketing takes time

Here is the final misconception: you can set marketing in motion and it will work forever. If you wind it up and let it go, it will never unwind and you will make money perpetually. Marketing does not work that way because the factors that cause consumers to buy from you shift. Marketing is hard work. It takes consistency. It will constantly demand your attention.

No one ever goes into business and thinks they will be shutting their doors shortly after they open them, but it happens all the time. Just like the good people of Fredonia thought they would live independently forever, you can be disillusioned into thinking that marketing is easy. It is not. The good news is marketing does work when you do it right. If you can master these three marketing misconceptions, you can make marketing work for you. If you think you can beat the odds and sidestep one of them, think again.

Note: The Republic of Fredonia made history in another way. It was the fictional country in the Marx Brothers 1933 comedy, "Duck Soup."