Let’s be realistic – there are only so many hours in the day and it’s easy to push your business’ marketing to the side. Things can get continually pushed to the bottom of your list.
And unfortunately, marketing is often one of those tasks.
Working in your business is vital. You have to keep your customers and clients happy; you have to make sure that everything is happening, as it should be. But you should also be working on your business.
This means you need to be thinking about, and working on, marketing strategies to ensure your business has an ongoing flow of customers and clients.
How should you focus on your business’ marketing?
Something I often talk to my clients about is brand awareness and brand recall. It’s important is that when your brand is mentioned or seen, a potential customer or client knows what it is you do or sell, and are able to articulate it. This is brand awareness.
Your ultimate aim should be a brand that a potential customer or client thinks about, unprompted, when your product or service type is mentioned. This is brand recall.
Be the brand that is top of mind when someone needs your product or services.
To get to the level of brand recall you need to have an ongoing marketing strategy that you implement, review and revise on a regular basis.
I can sense that some of you might now be thinking ‘but I don’t have a big budget for a marketing strategy’ – I’m not necessarily talking about big budget strategies, I am referring to the right fit for your business. So this can include anything from blog writing, social media, public relations, advertising, sponsorship, networking, events … the list is almost endless!
Every business needs to have ongoing marketing strategies.
These aren’t just actions you implement when you realise your sales have decreased significantly or you have a lost a number of clients in a short timeframe.
I recognise that it’s hard, particularly when you are a small business, to ensure you have consistent marketing. If you find that you get bogged down during the day working IN your business, then perhaps you need to schedule time out of the office to work on your business.
I’ve always had a similar issue, as I want to be as timely (read – quite fast turnaround!) for my clients as possible. I’ve found that I can’t switch off during the day, so when I have a particular project I am working on for my business strategy for The Marketing GP I get up at 5am each weekday and work on it until 7am. This means I am able to get in two hours of focused work on my business.
If early mornings are not for you, try to do the same thing in the evening. I chose the morning as I found when I worked on my business at night I would get excited and then be unable to sleep!
It’s vital that you commit to working on your business and that marketing – whatever that may look like for your particular business – is part of your overall strategy for success.
