Marketing is the monkey on many small business owner’s backs. It’s subjective. It can be hit or miss. It’s often hard to measure its effectiveness. It can be expensive. It takes time. And there are so many options. Yet if you ignore that monkey, it’s likely your small business will have trouble keeping its doors open.
When I see small business owners failing in their business marketing strategy, it’s usually because of their approach. Those who fail approach marketing with a one and done mindset. If they don’t see results quickly, they move on to the next idea they read about or saw their competitors using. Rather than viewing their efforts as a progression of activities, they view their marketing efforts in silos, each unrelated to the next.
Successful small business owners approach marketing with a campaign mindset. They realize their successes are a cumulative effort, rather than simply the result of one specific activity. They don’t post an event on Facebook and deem it a failure if no one shows up. They deploy several efforts for that event. That event is part of a bigger strategy of keeping their sales funnel full of new prospective clients or keeping their name in front of clients who may not have been in for a few years. They look at how all each of their marketing efforts can piggyback off of each other. They have a plan. They aren’t reactive. They are proactive. And they understand that marketing isn’t sending an email to their clients today saying come in tomorrow for 25% off. It’s a larger, longer-term strategy that threads through many aspects of their business.
If you’re stuggling in your business, look at your marketing efforts. Are you a one and done kind of marketer? If so that’s the first thing to look at changing. Your approach is key to having success.