Who doesn’t love some marketing quickies that you can understand on the fly and more importantly, apply effortlessly?
Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not what today’s post is about. Quick fixes seldom last. And most things you acquire effortlessly, you value less.
Marketing strategies, tactics and tools change all day long. What don’t change though, are principles. They govern the universe. They’re omnipresent. They cover all areas of our lives and go beyond what’s comprehensible for the human mind.
Today I’d like to share with you a bouquet of marketing mechanisms that encompass principles, strategies, tactics and tips that you can deploy across industries to generate consistent results and grow your business.
Evergreen Marketing Quickies for Busy Small Business Owners
Going through the list below, you’ll notice that those marketing quickies go beyond what you associate with the typical marketing and sales department.
I added them to the list, because I wanted you to have a detailed overview of what’s actually going on in your business. This will allow you to assess the current situation and take action based on the patterns you discover that aren’t favoring the growth of your business.
1. Decide who it is you want to serve. You might be more familiar with the terms “know your target audience” or “choose your ideal client”. They all describe the same thing. Get crystal clear about the people you want to provide your products and services for. Study their behavior and try to get a deeper understanding as to why they buy certain things.
2. Align your message to your persona. Maybe you’ve heard of the golden 3M’s of marketing: market, message and medium. This is where your marketing message comes into play. Think about the communication you’re going to put out, both verbally and non-verbally. Authenticity. Transparency. Understand that these are more than simple keywords that get thrown around in a loud and crowded world.
3. Have a proper mix of marketing channels. There is no “perfect medium”. Today we have several online and offline channels, which integrated and deployed correctly, can propel your business and turn attention into money.
4. Allocate resources according to your long-term vision. Sometimes you would go all-in on certain platforms, other times you’re better off dividing your marketing budget into several buckets. Prioritizing short-term gains over long-term success is a trap that you can avoid when you stick to your priorities.
5. Create a culture based on values. This one obviously goes beyond your marketing department as it affects the entire business. Act according to your values. Communicate these to your employees and ensure everybody is on the same page.
6. Fire clients if you need to. This is where the business community splits into two: those who agree and those who would never do such a thing. First off, this won’t be a major deal if you followed marketing quickie #1. However, every now and then, a lemon squeezes in and ruins your party. This is where I suggest you act before it gets ugly and your entire business along with your team suffers from it.
7. Invest in paid tools. Everybody loves free things. However, there comes a time when you need to draw the line and allocate part of your marketing budget to buy tools that will help you increase your productivity and get results faster. Some tools are more expensive than others; picking best in class might not look optimal at first but can be a smart investment long-term.
8. Work with mentors to speed up the process and cut the learning curve in at least half. There are so many valuable lessons you can learn from somebody who has accomplished the very same thing you want to attain. Furthermore, why repeat the same dump mistakes your mentor did when you can capitalize on his experience and avoid them from the beginning. Don’t worry, you’ll get the opportunity to do plenty of mistakes yourself. Nobody gets away without mistakes. The key here is to save time and spare yourself some trouble and pain.
9. Attend marketing and business events (conferences, seminars, workshops) to build meaningful relationships. Nothing beats Face-to-Face. I’ve written a special article dedicated to F2F marketing and you’ve heard me several times mentioning it on my blog, podcast or social channels. Meeting like-minded people, exchanging thoughts and ideas with people from different industries and cultures, being exposed to new cutting-edge technologies and getting an early sense of where things might go are some of the many amazing benefits of putting yourself in these types of environments.
10. Visit fairs and trade shows to feel the pulse and be at the forefront of innovation. These are great places, as they will help you identify consumer behavior patterns and map these to new, innovative technologies thus allowing you to better understand where things are going in the future. Knowing what to do and when to do it puts you in a winning position.
11. Learn to distinguish hypes from trends. This is a biggie a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners struggle with. Being on the lookout for trends is good. Riding every wave and buying into hypes can cost you vast amounts of money and time. It’s a luxury you can’t afford. At least not on this planet; while money is unlimited, your time supply is not.
12. Stop marketing and selling to the unsellable. Whether you have a product based business, an asset based business or a client service business, you’re wasting your precious time, money, energy and other resources if you’re trying to sell to the unsellable. Move on. Take that time and invest it into acquiring a new customer. Remind yourself of marketing quickie #1.
13. Never get tired of optimizing, systematizing and getting referrals. Cross-channel and cross-department integration is key. Nothing destroys a business quicker than thinking and acting in silos. The same applies to marketing and selling. One cannot go without the other. I’m convinced you know of business owners who are great at marketing but are afraid of pulling the trigger, as in making the sell. Others you might know, are great at banging doors and converting, however lack the marketing know-how or don’t understand the need nowadays of every business to act like a media company first.
Last but not least, please don’t underestimate the power of referrals. There’s hardly a small business that doesn’t rely heavily on referrals.
The List Goes On and On
It would be disrespectful to call this a complete list or the ultimate guide of marketing quickies.
My intention was to give you thirteen valuable marketing tidbits that you can take right away no matter what business or stage you’re in and implement. Every single one of these marketing quickies deserves to be turned into books and courses because their nuances can show you different paths.
Keep what’s working and add, better yet, integrate the tidbits you haven’t tried out yet. Design your own marketing bouquet. Ultimately, it all comes down to results and that’s exactly what I want you to get: results.
Your turn:
What marketing quickies can’t you go without? What would you add to the list?
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Originally published on my blog at StrengthInBusiness.com.
