Action-Oriented Small Business Marketing

Posted by Kevin Dervin · September 30, 2009 · Print This Article

Is your marketing action-oriented?

So many small business owners and independent professionals have the wrong idea about marketing. They believe that the purpose of marketing is to ‘get your name out there.’

Marketing to build brand awareness and name recognition is a huge waste of time, engergy and money. When you’re a small business and every penny counts, you want your marketing to result in a steady supply of high-quality leads.

Getting your name out there or creating brand awareness is a welcome by-product of small business marketing. But, it shouldn’t be the main focus of your marketing efforts.

This is an important marketing concept to embrace. Unfortunately, most small business marketing efforts are focusing on the later, and therefore, are not action-oriented.

Now, making your marketing action-oriented doesn’t mean creating tools (e.g., ads, flyers, brochures, post cards, etc.) that get someone to take action and buy. Sorry, it doesn’t usually work that way. Marketing and selling typically involves a multi-step process. Your prospects may not need what you offer when they first hear about you. You probably need to build some credibility and trust with them first.

Making your marketing action-oriented means getting those who might have an interest in what you offer to reveal themselves to you. In other words, you get them to take action to find out more. The first step is attracting those who have a genuine interest in what you have to offer.

Then you follow up with those interested to provide them with more details. Give them more information and educate them about what you can do for them. As someone continues to show interest you can then make special offers to help them take action to become a client.

So as you’re creating any marketing piece, start by being clear what specific action you want a prospect to take when they see your marketing piece. This is called your most desired response.

Make it crystal clear what the one simple action is that you want someone to immediately take when they receive your message. Merely trying to promote a product or service in your marketing piece will get you very little action. It rarely results in a steady supply good quality leads that you can begin converting into clients.

What action do you want them to take immediately?

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The key is to create an immediate action. If you get a prospect to take immediate action, you can let your follow-up systems kick in and you’re one step closer to converting a client.