Marketing is a pretty broad term, covering everything from graphic design to web design to social media. You need to get the word out about your business, but if you’re still doing everything yourself, or if your funds are limited and you can’t afford to do all the fancy marketing you’ve seen the big companies doing, don’t worry. It does not mean you’re doomed to failure. It just means you need to be more strategic about your marketing efforts. Let’s go over three ways you can do that. ​Identify Your Ideal Client
Map Out Your Buyer JourneyMarketing means getting your name out there and increasing your brand recognition, and that’s great, but it’s not necessarily going to help you pay the bills without a small business marketing strategy. Don’t just assume people will buy from you as soon as they hear your name. Two things need to happen before they’ll do that: 1) they need to know, like, and trust you, which will require some consistent and strategic marketing; and 2) they need to know how to buy from you. If you make them hunt around to find a “buy” button or your contact page, they’ll lose interest and leave, so make it as easy as possible for your ideal client to buy from you. You’d be surprised how many small business owners make the most crucial step difficult for their prospects. In addition to communicating your brand and the value you provide, all your marketing efforts need to lead prospects to the next step in the buyer journey. That might be visiting your website, signing up for your newsletter, or reaching out for a consultation. When you know where your prospects are in the buyer journey when they encounter your brand, you can figure out the next logical step in the buyer journey and make it easy for them to take that step. ​Measure the Results of Your Small Business Marketing StrategyOne of the things that separates marketing from a marketing strategy is that a marketing strategy has goals that can be measured. If you don’t have a way of measuring the success of your small business marketing strategy, it’s not a strategy. You need to be able to measure your results so you can determine whether your marketing efforts are getting the results you need for your small business, or if it’s time to adjust your strategy.
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When you run your own business you become a Jack of all trades. It’s a great opportunity to develop all kinds of skills you probably never thought you would need, but it can also be overwhelming and lead to a lot of mistakes as you take on new responsibilities for which you were never trained. Project manager is one of those roles many small business owners take on without any training, so here are some tips to help you avoid some of the most common mistakes new project managers tend to make. ​Keep Your Eyes on the PrizeAs small business owners, it’s easy for us to get distracted. There are always so many things to do and new things to try that we often lose sight of the end goal, but it’s important to keep your eyes on the prize. What is it you really want to accomplish in your business? How will this project help you achieve that goal? That same thought process can be applied to each project individually, as well as your overall business goals. Each project should have a clear beginning and a clear end with goals you want that project to achieve. By keeping those end goals in mind, you’ll be better able to stay focused throughout the process and make better decisions about what the project needs and what’s a waste of time and resources. ​Define Your Goals
​Ask for Help
​Hire a Project ManagerThese days I call myself a business coach, but with my long history working in the corporate world as a marketer and project manager, I have brought that skill set to several of my clients to help them manage their projects. I also help them find more time in their schedule to enjoy life and spend time with family, either by managing their projects for them, or by helping them identify the areas in their business where their time and energy could have the most powerful impact. If any of this sounds like something you could use for your business, reach out today to schedule a FREE clarity call.
The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising: Which Is Right for Your Small Business?As small business owners, we all have limited resources. The secret to success is knowing how to make the most of those resources. Marketing and advertising are two areas where it’s easy to waste either your time, your money, or both if you’re not strategic. Rather than telling you where you should be investing your resources (the answer is different for everyone), I’m going to start by laying out the differences between marketing and advertising so you can get an idea of which investment makes the most sense for your business. What is Marketing?
​What Is Advertising?
Advertising as MarketingAs mentioned above, advertising is a subset of marketing and you can think of marketing as the hook, while advertising is the line that reels them in. If your marketing is effective, it should convince prospects you know what you’re doing, so when they are ready to buy, they’ll already be familiar with you and they’ll know they can trust you to do the job right. Then all they need is the right ad to convince them to take that final step to becoming a customer.
Networking can be a great way to build your business by getting in front of more prospects and referral partners, but networking is a skill, and like any other skill, it takes some practice to get it right. If you’ve been networking, but not getting any leads (or clients, or referral partners) from all the networking you’re doing, it might be time to build up your networking skills. Start by using these tips to network more effectively. Be Strategic About Where You’re Networking
Be PreparedMake sure you have your business cards with you and that all the information on those cards is up to date.
Be OrganizedHave a place to put all the business cards you collect so you can follow up with them later. A lost business card is a lost opportunity, so make sure you know ahead of time where all the business cards are going so you can keep them together while you’re networking. Pro tip: write notes on the business cards to remind yourself of the conversation you had with them so you can mention it when you follow up. Follow Up
If you think you’re doing everything right, but you’re still struggling to build your business, it might be time to hire a Strategy Rockstar to help you reach your goals. Schedule a FREE clarity call now to see if coaching is right for you.
Spring is a time of growth and renewal, so if you’ve been feeling stuck in a rut when it comes to marketing your business, it might be time to take advantage of the spring season to refresh your marketing efforts with new ideas and a new energy. Here are some ideas you can use to take advantage of the season and inject a little spring into your marketing strategy.
Clean Up Your Marketing StrategySpring is also synonymous with cleaning. As we start venturing outside again and opening up the windows, it’s a good time to give our homes and offices a good, deep cleaning, and the same goes for your marketing strategy. When was the last time you really looked at your marketing strategy to determine what’s working and what isn’t? Is it time to ditch some practices that aren’t gaining any traction? Is it time to try out some new marketing strategies you’ve been meaning to try but haven’t gotten around to yet? There’s no time like the present to try new things, especially when spring is in the air. If teaching yourself about marketing and business development has also been on your to-do list for a while, but you haven’t gotten around to it yet, my online academy might be just what you need. There are free classes so you can try it out and see if it’s for you before investing in the rest of the courses or in private coaching. Whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been in business for a while, it’s always a good idea to invest in yourself so you can get the help and resources you need to achieve the biggest dreams you have for your business.
I work with a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners who have big goals for their business, but struggle to achieve those goals. There are a lot of things that can get in our way when it comes to achieving our goals, but sometimes it’s the goal-setting process itself that’s tripping us up. Sometimes the goals are not specific enough, making it difficult to tell if you’ve actually achieved the goal. Other times the goals are too ambitious, and people fail to adjust the goal to make it more achievable. Let’s take a look at how you can set SMART goals for your business so you can be sure to achieve them and move on to the next steps in growing your business. The first step to setting SMART goals is to make them specific. Don’t just say you want to grow your business or you want more clients. Be specific. How much income do you need/want to bring in? How many clients will it take to bring in that much money? You need a number in order for your goal to be specific. SpecificYou can’t determine whether you’ve achieved your goal if you can’t measure the goal, so part of the goal-setting process has to be to make sure you have a way to measure your goal. This is related to the first tip to be specific about your goals, because when your goals are specific, they’re usually also measurable. As I mentioned above, aiming for a specific income level and/or a specific number of clients fulfills the first step in setting a SMART goal, but it also fulfills the second step because it makes those goals measurable. MeasurableI love it when my clients set ambitious goals for themselves and their businesses, but if those goals aren’t realistic, they can leave you feeling frustrated and unmotivated when you don’t achieve them. So when you’re setting your goals for the year/quarter/month, make sure it’s a goal you can realistically achieve in that time frame. Big goals are great, but consider breaking them down into smaller goals. That way, every time you complete a step in the process, you can celebrate and know you’re on your way to accomplishing the biggest, most ambitious goals you have for your business. Achievable
Don’t be intimidated by the process of setting goals for yourself and your business. If you’re worried you won’t achieve a certain goal and you’ll feel like a failure, just adjust the goal so it’s more achievable. Setting SMART goals is the first step to laying out a plan to achieve those goals, and as the saying goes, a goal without a plan is just a wish. RelevantIt might sound obvious to make sure your goals are relevant, but you might be surprised how many people get distracted with trying to achieve goals that won’t really help them move forward, whether it’s in life or in their business. This is especially true of entrepreneurs and small business owners because there are so many things different people are telling us we need to do for our business that it’s easy to get caught up in tasks and goals we’ve been told will help our bottom line, but in reality don’t have much of an effect. For example, you might want lots of social media followers and/or newsletter subscribers, but if people aren’t clicking through to your website from your social media posts or your emails, are those goals really relevant to your overall business goals? Time Sensitive
It’s pretty safe to bet that at some point in the past week (maybe even in the past 24 hours) you asked yourself, “How am I going to get it all done?” We live in a world where we are expected to do more and more, and that goes double if you’re an entrepreneur who’s struggling to get your business off the ground. You have to be your own project manager, marketer, sales manager, etc. You’re working multiple full-time jobs, and if you’re a parent as well, then you have another full-time job, but you still only have 24 hours in a day. The good news is that there are ways to get more done in less time. Let’s start with three of the most basic things you can do: Give Yourself a Break
Know When You’re Most Productive
Remember Your Why Sometimes we have a hard time getting through certain tasks because we’re unmotivated. Whether it’s because we’re tired and burnt out, or just because it’s an aspect of our business we don’t enjoy but needs to get done anyway, sometimes just sitting down and making ourselves do it is the hardest part.
Helping my clients get more done in less time is one of my specialties as a business coach. Whether you’re struggling to get it all done, or you’re not sure which of your endless tasks should take priority over all the others, having a coach at your side to show you the way can make your next steps, not just more clear, but also more successful. If you think it might be time to get a strategy rockstar on your side, schedule a FREE clarity call now so we can see if coaching is right for you.
You’ve started your business and now it’s time to get the word out, because people can’t buy your great products/services if they don’t know you exist. In order to let people know all the awesome ways you can help them, you need to do some marketing, but these days, marketing includes everything from blogging to videos to public speaking. You could easily spend all your time marketing and not have any time left for your clients, but I have four tips to help you develop a marketing strategy that will get results for your small business. Know Your AudienceThe first step to creating an effective marketing strategy is understanding who your audience is. The world is huge and the internet is almost as big, so the first thing you need to identify is who your target audience is so you can find out where they hang out (both online and off). You also need to understand the pain points you’re solving for your clients so you can talk about them in all your marketing materials. Understanding, not just the pain points, but how that pain affects your prospects’ lives and drives them to find solutions is key to getting in front of them at the right time and in the right place, and saying the right thing to convince them to work with you. Put the Pain Points Front and CenterOnce you have a solid grasp of the problems you solve for your clients and how much that’s worth to them, you need to make sure those pain points (and your solution) are communicated throughout all your marketing materials. Make it clear you understand where they’re coming from, and that you have a way to make their lives better in tangible ways. Know What Works … and What Doesn’t
Understand the Power of RelationshipsWhile advertising tends to focus on getting people to buy, marketing is more about building relationships so people get to know, like, and trust you before your advertising (or sales call) can be effective. Marketing can focus on building a relationship between prospects and your brand, or building a relationship between you and your prospects. After all, as small business owners, we often are our brands, and especially in this Digital Age, your personal brand is at least as important as your company’s brand. So decide what represents that brand. What would make your target audience want to work with that brand? Helping small business owners develop and implement their marketing strategies is one of my specialties. Whether you just started your business, or you’ve been in business for a while and are struggling to get the results you need, I can help, so schedule a FREE clarity call to see if coaching is the right next step for you.
A lot of small business owners talk about the ups and downs of running a business. Feast or famine. Either you’re very busy and making a lot of money, or you’re twiddling your thumbs while watching all the money drain out of your bank account. But what if I told you it doesn’t have to be that way? That you can have steady income as a small business owner? It might seem like it’s too good to be true, but it’s a very attainable goal if you have a business development strategy and you follow through with it.
Determine Your Destination
Define Your Ideal ClientDefining your ideal client is a crucial part of your business development strategy because it will drive every other element of your business development efforts, from the networking events you choose to attend, to the topics you cover in your marketing materials, to your marketing channels. Only once you know who your target audience is, what pain points you’re solving for them, and where they tend to hang out (both online and off) can you create a successful business development strategy. Define Your GoalsRemember the definition of a SMART goal: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time sensitive. So how are you defining your goals and what metrics are you going to use to determine whether you reached them? Identify the Resources You NeedOnce you know where you want to take your business, it’s time to make a list of the resources you need, both to get there, and to measure your results. This can mean technology to help you get in front of and stay in touch with prospects and clients, or it can mean people, whether it’s referral partners to help spread the good word about you, or people to take some of the work off your hands.
You’ve probably heard this phrase so many times it’s stopped meaning anything to you. It’s too easy, right? Gaining clients and growing a business can’t be as easy as following up with someone after we’ve already had a conversation with them. But it is! Because here’s the thing: it takes an average of 6-8 touches to convert a lead into a sale. That means people need more than just hearing your elevator pitch to want to work with you. They’re going to want to get to know you first, but they’re not necessarily going to be the one to reach out to you after that first point of contact, so you need to have a plan in place to reach out to them. Here’s what I recommend: Plan Ahead
Take Notes
Try to follow up with any leads within 24 hours after that first point of contact. If you wait any longer, they’ll be more likely to have forgotten you and the conversation they had with you. It also doesn’t make a very good impression to wait too long to follow up because it makes them feel like they’re not a priority for you, and if they don’t feel like a priority as a prospect, they’ll assume they won’t be a priority if they become a client. Once you’ve scheduled a follow-up meeting, send them an invitation as soon as you’ve finished scheduling it, because that makes it more likely the meeting will go on their calendar and they won’t accidentally double book themselves for that time slot. Be sure to follow up again after the meeting. As with the event, you’ll want to take notes during the meeting so you can reference the conversation you had with them in your follow up email. Similarly I have a pre-made email template that is customizable for this too. For more tips and tricks like these, you check out my other blog posts, or you can check out my online academy, which covers everything from the first steps you need to grow a business, to networking and making sales calls. It’s a great option for those who are just starting out and don’t yet have the budget to hire a business coach.
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Why Morsels?Business advice, Please tell me how you found me
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