What I do mean, however, in the context of running your own business and having to take on the role of marketing director, as well as the squillion other roles you’re now responsible for, marketing isn’t something you should be scared of.
Big businesses may have huge departments totally devoted to marketing, and be throwing marketing jargon around like confetti, making marketing seem like something very intimidating. In reality, as a sole trader or small business owner you’ll be doing things very differently, so don’t panic.
In your small business, the core focus of your marketing will be to consistently generate as many relevant leads as possible. Doing it with limited resources, like time, manpower and budget means you need to think carefully about what you’re going to do and how you’ll do it.
My take that marketing isn’t rocket science, comes from the fact that a lot of what you’re going to want to be doing, from a marketing perspective, will be governed by common sense as much as anything else. But (and this is a big but), having a certain amount of knowledge and support behind you will help give you that boost to make your marketing work a lot harder and smarter!
So, where to start if it’s supposed to be so simple?
First thing – know your fundamentals. Who are you selling to, what are you selling and how much are you selling it at? And does all of this add up to allow you to earn the money you want within your business?
This is probably the toughest part, as there can be a lot of tweaking. And maths is involved.
If, for instance, you want to turnover £50,000 in one year, and you’re selling a service to directors of law firms that you’re pricing at £3,000 a pop, your promotional marketing job is going to be very different than if you want to earn the same amount, but you’re selling janitorial products to procurement managers at £10 a go. Different target markets, one is a service and the other a product, one might be a one off purchase, the other a repeat bulk buy. In the first example you’ll need to sell fewer than 20 to make your money, whereas in the second, you’ve got to make 5,000 sales.
This exercise will help you to identify what kind of messaging you need to create to encourage the right people to buy what you’re selling. It will also help you work out where the people you want to get your message in front of are most likely to see it. And, it will give you a much better understanding of the size of the marketing job ahead of you.
With me so far?
Great!
When it comes to getting in those leads, there are a few things that you can do to keep everything simple:
Make sure you’re clear on what problem you’re solving for people. Your prospects don’t care about what you do, they care about what you can do for them. Some people will say that you’re not selling the drill, you’re selling the hole. But you can even take it a step further – you’re selling the cosy Sunday afternoons where they’re chilling out and reaching for the book that’s sitting on the bookshelf they were able to put up because they had the drill. Really think about the benefits that people will get from using your product or service. Be creative. And if you’re not creative, don’t be afraid to outsource. And use copywriters because they are brilliant at this kind of thing. They’ll also make sure that your copy is full of “YOU asked for this..” which resonates with readers, rather than “I do this…” which leaves readers thinking “So what?”!
Think really hard about the different ways you can get in front of your target market. Social media is fantastic, but SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT THE ONLY MARKETING TOOL OUT THERE. Sorry for shouting, but when people say “marketing” when they mean “social media” it does frustrate me. Social media is one tactic. It’s huge and it’s brilliant, but it isn’t the only marketing tactic, and it isn’t always the best marketing tactic for your specific business.
When you know who you’re marketing to, you can start working out where they might hang out. Maybe they read trade magazines, or emails, or would respond to a piece of direct mail. And people need to be seeing the same message come at them from different places before they actually start to remember it.
I used to do a new year campaign every year for a local gym that involved direct mail and billboards within a very specific geographical area. Their target market responded to these kinds of marketing tactics really well, and sign ups would go through the roof.
Whichever tactic(s) you decide to use, planning it properly is vital. I don’t mean spending so long on the planning that you never get round to the actual doing (anyone else thinking about colour coded revision timetables?!).
Keep it simple. List every single task that will be needed to complete that particular tactic. Allocate each task a realistic amount of time for each of those tasks for completion. Plot the tasks along a timeline.
This way, not only can you work out how much marketing work you can fit in every day, along with your other work, you’ll understand how long it will actually take you to make this specific marketing thing happen.
If you’ve never done marketing before, this approach will help you massively.
I know of so many examples where people have started something, not given themselves enough time, got overwhelmed and given up on it. Or, gone ahead with it only partly completed. When people say “Marketing doesn’t work” what they often mean is “my lack of planning sabotaged my marketing efforts”.
And if you are going to do multiple tactics, keep them to a minimum. Start by choosing three and doing them really, really well. Social media, networking and a direct mail campaign, for example. Or social media, lead magnets and email campaigns. Maybe even Lumpy mail, telemarketing and leaflet drops. The most important thing is that the tactic is right for your target market.
Whatever you do, don’t just do something because someone else you know is doing it. Even if it’s working brilliantly for them. Assess it against your own criteria before you even consider it.
Hopefully, as you’ve been reading this, it’s reinforced that marketing is common sense, rather than rocket science, and not something to be intimidated by. It’s still OK not to know where to start, though. If you’ve not done it before then asking for help is always a sensible decision, and will undoubtedly save you time and money in the long run.
Check out my FREE guide – 3 Easy and effective ways to get in front of more of your ideal clients in 2023 – and get started straight away.