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Do you ever want to pull your hair out when you start to think about marketing your business? If you’re nodding, you’re not alone. There are endless ways to market your business, which can be super frustrating. But, as you likely know, marketing is essential to business growth, so keep reading to get a step-by-step guide to uncomplicate your marketing so you can grow your business.
Related: Failed Startups Made These 7 Marketing Mistakes — Are You Making Them, Too?
1. No strategy
The number one reason business owners get frustrated with marketing is that they don’t have a strategy in place. They’re flinging things against a wall to see what works but not getting any results.
Many business owners tend to do what they hear is “working” right now (which seriously can change by the minute). But every business is different, so what Bob down the street is doing won’t necessarily work for your business. Creating a strategy does not need to take much time, but it will help keep you focused and hit your goals.
Another big no-no I see is business owners who hire someone’s sister’s 18-year-old niece to do their marketing since they “know how to do social media.” This is detrimental for a variety of reasons. First, being active on social media doesn’t mean understanding social media strategy. Second, there is way more to marketing than social media; all your channels need to work together to get results. Third, when these hires are made, they don’t seem to last long, and then business owners have to start the process all over again.
I totally get that you probably didn’t open your business to spend all your time on marketing, but once you have put some time in up front to create a strategy, you can get back to doing what you love!
Action item
Block out an hour or two to brainstorm a marketing strategy that works for your business. Start with your goals — what are you trying to accomplish? Next, consider your ideal customer — what problem keeps them up at night? From there, work on your messaging. How can you connect with your ideal customer? This would be the words, phrases, images, the type of content you create and where you connect with them. Lastly, and probably most importantly, be consistent and track your results so you can adjust along the way! If you need more help creating your strategy, head here.
2. No time
As business owners, we wear a million hats, but if you want to grow your business (or even stay in business), you’ll need to find the time for marketing.
Schedule some time into your calendar and commit to it. It could mean getting up 30 minutes earlier and brainstorming over your coffee. Or it could be an hour on a Sunday evening over a glass of wine to strategize your marketing for the following week. You don’t have to have everything done and planned out in that session, but getting your ideas, events, topics, etc., out of your head and onto paper (or digital paper) makes a huge difference.
Create a calendar and put all of your ideas (finished and unfinished) on it so that you know what is coming up and are prepared for it. This exercise, done consistently, takes away so much stress and makes your marketing way more effective. It can be as easy as a handwritten planner, an online tool like Asana, Trello, or even a Google spreadsheet. Don’t overcomplicate it; just get started. You can adjust along the way.
Action item
Look at your calendar and block out some time (preferably the same day and time each week) to focus on executing your marketing. Decide what tool (if any) you will use to create your calendar based on the strategy you created in step one. Commit to doing this; it will get quicker and easier the more you do it. You will start to see results faster than you think.
3. No results
A key thing to remember is that after you have created your marketing strategy and started executing it, you need to look at your analytics to see what is working and what isn’t. Numbers tell a story, and you’ll be able to see red flags, trends and so much more when you start to look at your analytics regularly. They will tell you what people like, what they don’t like, what they’re engaging with, etc.
A good place to start is to look at your website analytics, social media analytics and email marketing analytics. If you’re spending any advertising money, be sure to track that.
Related: 11 Effective Marketing Strategies to Help Streamline Your Startup
Action item
Start reviewing your analytics once a month (I like to review mine and clients at the beginning of each month for the prior month). Create a spreadsheet and track the numbers. As I mentioned, you’ll start to notice things you might not have before, which will help guide your marketing strategy and get results.
Bonus tip
“Consistency is key. One of the biggest issues I see in marketing is inconsistency. Business owners often start and stop their marketing efforts, or they begin to see results and then ease off, only to encounter the same problem shortly after and have to start over again.”
Set the alarm, stick a post-it on your mirror and get an accountability partner or all of the above. Just commit to putting some energy and time into your marketing. You will see results.
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