Marketing is essentially getting your ideal customer to see your product or service and having them buy from you.
Marketing is the means you take to make money in your business.
Marketing your business means you need to create a roadmap that includes:
- Planning for Success
- Savvy Research
- Dynamic Strategy
- Authentic Campaigns
- Unique Funnels
Marketing is not only posting on Facebook. Or putting an ad on the TV. Or getting a website. Or seeking publicity. Marketing is all of these things, but asking yourself – why are you doing that and what you want to achieve. And then measuring the effectiveness.
Marketing is not free. It never has been and it never will be. The internet however, has made promoting your business both cheaper and easier. It has opened up your market but at the same time it is harder to cut through the clutter of messages your customer is seeing daily.
You need to spend money in order to make money. Simple.
You need to be savvy with your marketing spend – simply splashing money around at different platforms, or with a variety of experts is not always going to be effective, and it won’t help you achieve your goals.
Which is why you need to start with a marketing strategy. That should be your first investment when you are ready to get serious about growing your business.
It is very possible for you to DIY. There are a plethora of templates, courses and webinars you can join (I have a bunch of them). You can learn and do. When it comes to implementing there are also heaps of free or low cost tools which will get you a website, facebook banners, business cards and more.
And if you have the time, then do it. Jump in boots and all and go your hardest. Anything is better than nothing.
Some questions you might choose to ask yourself though is:
- Can you do the best job in showcasing your business the way you want it to be?
- Is this your ‘thing’ or does it cause confusion?
- Are you overwhelmed in your business – feeling stretched?
If you do not tell people about your business, and make sales you do not have a business. That is the function of marketing. Getting people to know you, like you, trust you and making a sale.
If you invested $2000 a month in direct marketing activities, and you were making $6,000 a month in sales you would be happy, wouldn’t you?
Have a think – how much money are you currently investing in your marketing at the moment, and how does that reflect in your income?
For some clarity here are some of the ‘activities’ you should be including in your marketing spend:
- Any dues and subscriptions for networking groups, tools you use to talk to your customer (ie Canva, Zoom, web hosting etc)
- Advertising – including Google, Facebook, newspaper, radio, printing and so on
- Project work – this will include graphic designers, photographers, videographers, web development, strategists, social media managers, virtual assistants and business managers, marketers and the like
As the scope of ‘marketing’ has grown as has the speciality areas of assistance that you can access. If you are confused or stuck on any of these please reach out to Rachel Allan.
Ask yourself, are your ideal customers buying your products or services? If the answer is no then your marketing is not effective.
Are you spending on your marketing and not seeing the return on investment? If the answer is yes then your marketing is not effective.
If you are not spending money on your marketing – why aren’t you? You can start with a small budget and see what difference it makes. How do your numbers shift? What do you learn about your business or indeed your customer?
Rachel Allan is running a Marketing Conversations webinar on your Marketing Money Blocks on the 18 August at 9.30am – for more visit here
Authentic, Dynamic, Savvy - the book
Rachel has created this innovative system, and she shares it with you in Authentic, Dynamic, Savvy.