Running your own business is exciting. You get to call all the shots and answer only to yourself. You get to do only the work you’re passionate about and only work with people you really like. But it also comes with a list of to do’s that are less glamorous, less exciting and that you may not have to concern yourself with before. Invoicing, accounts and marketing. Marketing can be a minefield and if you’ve never had to do it before. Maybe your business has relied this far on referrals and word of mouth. Or maybe your business is completely new.
Knowing what to say, where to say it and how often is something all business owners come up against when they’re tackling self promotion for the first time. The good news is that there’s plenty of options and things you can do to generate leads and drive sales for the business. The bad news is it’s often hard knowing where to start. This week we’re going to give you a few pointers about how to get started and get your small business marketing off the blocks.
What is marketing?
Marketing in its simplest form is selling products and services. Marketing has got a number of main functions;
- It’s raising awareness of your brand (making sure people know you exist)
- Telling people what you do and who you do it for
- Explaining what problems you solve and how people can buy this solution from you
So where do you start? Where are the best places to broadcast your message and how do you make sure you’re saying the right things?
Who are they?
Before you start doing any kind of marketing it is critical to know who your marketing is for. Every piece of content that you create is the start of a conversation or an experience with someone who might go on to become a client or customer so you need to know who they are. Spend some time working out who this person is.
I always recommend doing this in two parts, demographics and psychometrics. If you see your buyers as one dimensional entities you’ll struggle to write posts, ad’s or blogs that connect with them. If you try to understand who they are as a whole person you’ll have a much better idea of what sort of messaging they’ll respond to. An underpinning principle of marketing is developing “know, like, trust” This refers to the journey that your marketing takes people on; first they get to know you, then they decide if they like you and finally if they trust you and trust that you’re the right person or organisation to solve their problems and provide solutions.
Where are they?
You don’t need to be on ALL social media platforms. Likewise there’s no point paying for a full page ad in the local Parish Magazine if your target audience doesn’t read it. Be discerning about where you spend your time and efforts. You may not have to pay to post on social media but that doesn’t mean it’s free. Digital Marketing requires a great deal of time, effort and thought. These are precious resources that are being diverted away from other cash generating activities within your business. Be choosy about where you spend your time. Where are you target audience hanging out? Spend time growing an audience where your target market is hanging out. This goes for online and offline marketing.
What do they need?
Somebody told me recently “Business is about solving a problem for a profit” and I think that’s the clearest and most simply I’ve ever heard it described. Marketing is how you articulate the problem that you solve. Being able to create marketing messages that are compelling (and get people to take action/buy) will depend on how well you can describe what changes for your clients when they work with you. What problem disappears as a result of your product or service? What result or goals come about as a result of your product or service? Put simply, what will they have that they didn’t have before?
How can they buy from you?
You’ve written a great blog, email or social media post, what next? What do you want the person reading your content to do? Make it easy for people to spend money on your services or products. Don’t be afraid to make the offer. If the purpose of your content is to generate direct cash sales, leads or enquiries you have to have an obvious and easy next step. Something that says “if you want this, then do this”. Make sure you give people clear ways they can contact you whether that’s by social media, email, through your website or by telephone.
And finally
- Consistent doesn’t mean constant but on social media you’re competing for an ever shrinking attention span. You don’t have long to capture the attention of your intended market so make sure messages are super sharp. And if you want to remain front of mind, you need to show up regularly. Out of sight, out of mind has never been more true than when it comes to digital marketing.
- Social media is not a get rich quick scheme. People are discerning about where and how they spend their money especially in times such as these when there is unprecedented pressure on people’s finances. People ARE buying and people DO have money but they’re not giving it away. Your content marketing has a critical job; to build rapport with your customers.
- Not all marketing is done on social media. There are other ways to reach potential clients that don’t include social media platforms. Businesses that rely heavily on social media to generate new leads and talk to their customers are vulnerable. We don’t own the spaces we take up on social media and we can lose access to them without warning, explanation or restitution. I always recommend adding a regular blog to a website and growing a list of email contacts that you stay in touch with. Writing articles for other publications and sending out your own physical publications via snail mail are still incredibly effective marketing techniques in some industries. Social media is not the be all and end all.
- What is the goal of your marketing? Before you start, set your goals. Everything that’s measured can be improved. You won’t know if what you are doing is working or not unless you know what you are trying to achieve? If you are thinking about paying for ad’s, balance what you spend against the likely return. I always recommend working with an expert to create an ad campaign – trying to do it yourself if you’re inexperienced is likely to be a waste of precious resources. Keep hold of your cash until you’ve got enough to pay someone to help you set it up properly.
Are you a service based business looking for social media content support? Does that thought of doing it yourself fill you with dread? Would you rather focus your time and energy on the things that you know that you’re good at and leave the social media marketing to someone else? We can help. We offer long and short term content marketing support. Whether you need regular social media content, business blogs to grow your audience, an email sequence or a regular newsletter – we do it all. We have recently relaunched our ‘done for you’ copy and content writing services and have a capacity to support new clients right now. Send an email to clair@upwriteonline.co.uk if you’d like to find out more about how we can help you grow your business without growing your workload.