It’s hella noisy out there
The marketing and business worlds are full of jargon, buzz words and cool-sounding stuff being flung around willy nilly. Especially since that whole global pandemic thing happened. The thing is: after a while it just becomes a bunch of noise. As small business owners, consultants and freelancers, all we really want is to do what we love and get paid a fair and reasonable amount for it, so we can lead our lives in a way that suits us. So how do we cut through the noise and figure out how to get the word out? What’s the best way to promote our products and services?
The bullet train to success?
Ok so I’m just going to put it out there: THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET. Sorry, not sorry. If you’re looking for a quick fix, short cut or magic answer, then I’m here to tell you there it just doesn’t exist. Sure, if your product or service answers a burning need for a tonne of people, your message is sharper than a knife and you’re willing to invest a heap of cash into advertising, I’m sure you can be reach success pretty darn quickly if you spend all your time on it. And hey, if that’s you then great! However, if you’re among the gazillions of people I speak to on a daily basis who feels like you’ve watched a bunch of webinars, signed up to a bunch of ‘marketing guru’ email lists, downloaded a bunch of freebies and tried a bunch of stuff that didn’t reeeeeally work, then read on…
You actually have all the answers
The simple fact is that you need to have a well-researched comprehensive STRATEGY for your business before you start putting your marketing out there. Marketing is essentially like an iceberg: the bits that your audience actually see are just the tip. Every single social media post, flyer and email that you smash out needs to be underpinned and supported by the chunky bit of ice that sits under the surface: your strategy. A lot of the ‘noise’ out there focuses on Small Biz Owners having a marketing PLAN, but without mentioning that a plan isn’t worth the paper it’s written on without a solid strategy in place first. But fear not! It’s honestly not that hard to get one sorted: it’s just a case of asking yourself the right questions. The best bit? Most of the answers to those question probably exists in your head already. All you need to do is take some time to have a think, do some research and get it all written down. From there you can plan out where you have gaps and what you need to discover or test in order to fill them in.
Small business, big picture
Begin with the big picture questions: WHERE you want to go with your business, WHO you’re really serving with your product or service, WHY you’re doing it, HOW you’re going to deliver it and WHAT you can offer that is different or special? Once you start to build the basic blocks of business strategy, your marketing strategy can come next. WHO is your ideal client? WHAT hair-on-fire problem do you really solve for them? HOW can you describe the benefits of what you deliver? WHERE is the best place to find your ideal clients and engage with them? Only once you have these solid building blocks in place does an actual marketing PLAN come into play. And a word of warning here: generic downloadable marketing plans will not help you to do the right marketing for you. A bespoke marketing plan, tailored to you, your business and your ideal clients is the closest you’ll get to a silver bullet, I’m telling you!
What are you doing for the next six minutes?
I’ll tell you: downloading my free guide and getting the ball rolling on sorting your strategy. Just pop your email address into the box below and voila, a free download that will actually help you. You’ll also receive monthly marketing tips, straight to your inbox and you can unsubscribe any time. Enjoy, my friend! You are so welcome.