Marketing Action Club BLOG

At the end of the day, it is really up to you. As a small business owner you necessarily wear many hats. Not least of which is actually doing the work! Indeed many times owners will make a particular virtue of the fact that they are the ones who will be working with you, particularly when that work involves access to your house. This can be a great selling point.

You also need to be in charge of your marketing. This can cause some introspective thought. As much as you may accept this situation and demand on your time, it may still be uncomfortable – after all, you are not a marketer right? You dodn’t get into this business to market, correct?

Those are mindset barriers to achieving the success you deserve. That is the bad news. The good news is you can push through it, develop the marketing plans and strategies you need to be successful, and really drive your small business or independent practice forward. Ulitmately there are several key points to consider:

1. It’s your business – you get to chose how to run it. That is one of the great attractions of being a business owner after all. With that comes significant responsibility. To any enployees you may have to be sure, but equally important to yourself and to your life goals. As far as marketing goes, it is down to you. That is a simple point and statement of this fact hardly seems necessary, but it can get lost in the hurly-burly of business and underlies everything else
2. You don’t have to do it PERSONALLY – responsibility doesn’t imply you have to do it all yourself. There are plenty of resources available to help you define your marketing strategies and plans and many more to help you implement those plans. You still set the overall business plan and drive the marketing, but you don’t have to be the one who actually DOES everything.
3. Commit, measure, change as necessary, improve – part of taking that responsibility is setting the commitment. However you feel about marketing generally, or how it applies to you specifically, you need to commit to a) devoting energy to it and b) selecting appropriate tools for your message and market. Once in action, you need to measure the results, take action where necessary to adjust to your goals, and make continual improvements.

You have what it takes. Marketing is a key part of any small business – without a consistently applied plan and strategy, consistently attracting quality clients to the business will prove elusive. You drive that and there is plenty of help available to get you there, to develop the skills and implement the things you don’t really want to do. However, as obvious as it may seem, you never lose overall oversight and control – after all, it is your business!

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Do you know what it is that your clients value most from your business?

If you knew the answer to this question would it change your marketing strategy? Would you change the way you’re marketing your small business?

Think about it… If you knew what your clients wanted from a business like yours more than anything in the world, it would make marketing a whole lot easier. A foundational key to a successful marketing strategy is to make sure your product or service satisfies a need or desire that your target markets actually have.

So what is it that your clients value the most from your business?

Too many small business owners don’t know the answer to this question. Most just don’t take the time to figure this out for their business when they’re doing their marketing strategy. If you don’t know what your clients want, then how can you ever hope to provide great services to them?

Most small businesses seem to follow one of a few paths on this issue:

(1) Some have created a product or service based on something that they really want to offer. And, they believe that lots of people or businesses will want it.

(2) Others tend to have some general knowledge in a particular area. Unfortunately, what they communicate is so broad and vague that they end up reactively taking whatever business they can get.

Some clients might get what they want, but it’s not a very focused way to run a business.

(3) It seems to me that a much smaller percentage actually tries to figure out what their target market values. Then you could provide a service around that so it fits their needs.

Take some steps to position your business for success that others in your field just can’t generate. It might be just as easy as figuring out what it is they’d love to have from you.

How do you find out what your clients value? Well here’s a novel idea…You could ask them!

One very simple approach is to send your best and most important clients a little survey to ask them for some feedback. I’m talking like may THREE questions here.

1. What do you value most from the product/service we provide?
2. What could we do to positively change or improve the service you’re receiving?
3. When your business contacts ask about this kind of product/service, what would you tell them to be looking for in a service provider?

Think about how powerful it would be to know that information. You’d could literally align your business and your marketing messages with what you learn.

Your competitors are not going to be doing this as part of their small business marketing strategy. And, your clients are going to LOVE your for asking!

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There is a fine line in marketing when it comes to assessing what works. Measurement is, of course, all important. Without the means to track success of any tool or tactic, you won’t know where to concentrate your efforts and focus attention.

What do you do with that information? Obviously success is something you want to repeat, whereas less beneficial activities may need to be curtailed or at least tweaked to improve their effectiveness. This is where the fine line comes in! How do you know when to cut something short, when to change something, or when to abandon it altogether? Obviously measurement is key to that decision, but there are other forces in play.

• Planning and commitment – essential activities both. When you know why you pursuing a particular tactic, the results you are looking for and how that particular approach fits into your overall business plan, you will be far more likely to commit time and effort to it
• How long? – realistically, how long do you give a marketing tool to begin to bear fruit? This will vary. You may well get an idea of how effective direct mail is proving as soon as the first mailing arrives. However in many cases (depending on your business niche) significant results may take longer – what is the normal lead time for your service? Tactics like networking are essentially long term commitments and you need to understand that at the outset
• You can’t do everything – and nor should you try. There arr thousands of tools and tactics from which to choose. There will always be a new thing to try, one that may seem cooler than what you are doing now. There are countless examples of businesses changing to something new when there existing tactic was working well. This leads us to the point of this post…..

When it works, keep doing it, indeed do more of it. That may sound too simple to require stating, but the siren call of new and exciting tactics, the special offer etc. can be all too tempting. Remember the reason for marketing your business in the first place – essentially to get a steady stream of qualified clients into that business.

When you find something that works, that goal is much closer to being realized. We are talking about things that WORK here. Of course, when something is failing there is no future in blindly following that path downward, but success needs to be recognized and built upon.

You will figure this out. There is plenty of advice and support available to help you choose the appropriate tactics. There is also a lot of guidance to help you make the most of any activity you decide to implement and it is certainly worth taking full advantage. However, the same cautionary note applies. Keep the advice in context for your business. Avoid the temptation to throw out what is proven to work because a new approach has been introduced that someone told you was great.

This is where the line is drawn, although it isn’t a firm line! It is always worth investigating new ideas to see if they could work for you. Sticking to the same format because “that’s what we have always done” is a route to stagnation. But sticking to a tactic that works, whilst always looking to enhance and develop it, perhaps ADDING but not replacing, will put you on a much more consistent path to success.

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Networking can be a powerful small business marketing tactic. This is a continuation of a recent post on Holiday Networking for Small Business Marketing.

I was reading an article the other day about the ability to engage in small talk. This is most of what’s going to take place in holiday networking scenarios. If you’re going to get the most from networking, you have to accept that small talk is part of the game.

Some people seem to come by it naturally. Others just figure it’s not in their DNA. “I just don’t have the gift of gab,” you might say. If the second description defines you, don’t discourage because you can improve on this.

Understanding and appreciating the value of small talk will help. Small talk is really just a way of breaking the ice to find things in common. Whether it’s a casual conversation or the beginning of a lifelong friendship or business relationship, most conversations start with small talk.

There are two primary reasons most never master the art of professional networking.

1. One reason is not disciplining yourself to think proactively about what you want and need.
2. The other reason is not having the courage and desire to establish new connections. Translation – find a way to get really good at small talk.

Not sure what to talk about? The holiday networking season might be the easiest for generating small talk because of the multitude of topics you could choose from.

Here’s a list of topics. Be prepared to start or participate in small talk on any of the following:

Holiday Topics:

• Have any travel plans for the upcoming holidays?
• Does your family have any holiday traditions?
• Do you have big plans for the holidays?
• Are you a winter person or more of a summer person?

End of Year Topics (Each could be started with “Wow, the year is almost over…”):

• Did you see any really great movies this past year?
• Did you read any really good books this past year?
• What do you think the experts will say was the most significant event of this past year?

Ready to talk business a little bit? Try these starters:

• How did you get started in your business?
• So, any great success stories from this past year?
• What are your big plans for next year?

I’m sure you could brainstorm lots of other potential topics. You don’t have to try and change your personality to become super outgoing. But, with some preparation you can get better at small talk.

Have the confidence to walk up to someone and start a conversation. Just introduce yourself and pick a small talk topic to get started. The personal and business rewards can be enormous.

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Your state of mind can help or hinder you. It is rarely, if ever, neutral. That means that how you think about marketing, and in particular, how you think of yourself in regards to marketing, is very important.

Your mind can betray you in subtle ways. There is the big picture stuff of course – fearing presentations leading to avoidance behavior for example, but there is also the small scale betrayals that can sabotage your efforts.

Here are a few examples:

1. It’s just a very rough draft – frequently heard (or seen) when presenting a piece of written marketing material. Often followed by something that has been rather hastily prepared. The “rough draft” statement comes across as “don’t be too critical” and/or implies that this isn’t your best work, i.e. it is subject to further development. Saying that, even to yourself, will lead you to fail to give of your best – after all, it’s only a rough draft

2. I’m going to try/am just trying this tactic – are you going to try it, or are you going to do it? A mindset of try gives you permission to fail – “well, at least I tried”. Avoid going into anything with an attitude of giving it a try – as the famous quote from Star Wars (Master Yoda specifically) tells us: “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

3. Hopefully – hoping isn’t a strategy. Entering a marketing plan hoping it will work, at least stated in those terms, will lead to a lack of concrete activity to make it happen. It is OK to be hopeful, but put a lot of planning and strategy around it and ensure you are taking action, not just hoping on a wing and a prayer.

4. Self-deprecation – a little humor is fine. Poking fun at yourself can also be fine, but it isn’t very effective as a marketing tactic. Putting yourself down all the time is annoying to others and they will quickly see through it for what it is – fishing for compliments and attention, and search for confidence boosting reassurance. You don’t need to do it. You don’t have to appear self-serving and arrogant to be confident in yourself.

There are others of course, but the key point is that you have what it takes to be successful in marketing your business. Beware of these mindset tricks that can easily creep in – keep your mindset working for you!

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