Have you ever left your house heading one place — somewhere that you don’t go to often? But without thinking you slipped into auto pilot and ended up at work or at the grocery store that you always go to or at your child’s school?
It’s a habit formed by repeated actions. Witthout thinking, you’ll slip into it over and over and over again.
As a small business owner, you may have a few marketing habits that need shifting into a different direction. Below are three to consider.
Build It And They Will Come
If you’ve been in business for any amount of time, you know the truth by now. You have do a lot more than just “build it.” To be effective, your marketing has to be woven into the product, service and the launch itself. Instead of one step, it’s four:
- Tell your target audience what you’re going to build and how it’s going to change their life.
- Then build what you said you where going to build.
- Tell them that you built it and simultaneously show them what’s in if for them.
- But don’t stop there. Continue to find relevant and unique ways to show your target audience what you have and how it will change something in their business/life.
Marketing, like every successful move in business, takes focused and intelligent effort and the building phase is only part of the equation.
One Egg, One Basket
You can be a one trick pony and that focus may allow you to excel at that one thing. But when it comes to marketing you need more than one avenue.
It’s already too dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. Because if you drop that basket, everything you have is gone. So having just one egg is even worse. You need multiple ways to explain what you have to offer.
You can put your message in text, videos and pictures — many eggs. You also need varied ways to transport your message to where your target audience is. You can deliver it via social media, website, print items as well as local television and radio publicity — that’s more than one basket.
One Man, One Woman Show
You may have started your small business at the kitchen counter by yourself. You may have hustled alone, to move it forward for years. Ultimately, however, every strategy requires a savvy-little team to push it to the next level and your company is no different. The longer you ignore this fact, then the longer your brilliant ideas remain under-utilized.
You need a team, but it doesn’t have to be a sea of employees. When it comes to marketing, an outside but well-trained eye can make for a great mix. To move away from the one man or one woman show, you could contract with a marketing assistant. Someone to do things like help you monitor your social media, post your blog articles, and find engaging photos to accompany your content. Or you could add a marketing consultant to:
- Brainstorm with you.
- Learn to understand your brand and your audience.
- Help you implement the advice.
- Assess the impact with you.
- Adjust the plan for the next step in the strategy.
In other words, get help with your marketing and grow your business faster.
Colored Man Photo via Shutterstock
Ti Roberts
Great post. I agree that it’s important to have multiple exposure platforms. You need traffic coming from more places then one to maximize your reach and your income potential. Thanks for sharing.
Ti
Jerry
Definitely agree about having multiple platforms and not putting all your eggs in one basket. I have seen many a small business owner who will continue to do business as usual and reluctant to change.
Many of them will only use word of mouth marketing claiming not being able to afford marketing. The key is to have different forms of marketing and having someone knowledgeable managing it. Great post.
Sadiq Daniel
Great post. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and at the same time know your target audience and focus on them. there is more to marketing than the eye can see. it is like dating and unless you are committed…….And on the “team” aspect, If the members of your team don’t have much info on the product and the company’s goals and vision, you are headed for a disaster. Before you sign them to your Team, You should ask yourself “should they be on my team”……. http://tinyurl.com/d42n74e
The last part of your post is so important! Once you realize all the channels you need to use (all those baskets) you’ll need some help. Once you identify what needs to be done, you can easily find someone to do them for you — and it’s not all that pricey, either. In terms of customer engagement and traffic, the returns can be amazing.
After understanding what you need the whole process starts feeling like a puzzle coming together.
Great post, Jamillah.
I’ve learned so much about marketing…by doing it. By making mistakes. By enjoying some successes.
And, none of my eggs are in one basket.
Ever.
The Franchise King®
I agree Joel, “doing it” — getting your hands dirty — putting your marketing in motion pushes your learning curve forward. It’s on the job training.