It is well-recognised that Australia is a nation of small businesses.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics results from last year found that there were 1.2 million sole traders, 600,000 micro-businesses (1-4 employees), almost 200,000 small businesses (5-19 employees) and over 50,000 medium-sized businesses (20-199 employees). And in fact, the smaller end of the scale are the areas that have seen the most growth in the past few years.
Juggling operations & marketing in a small business
I often talk about the various ‘hats’ that small and medium-sized business owners and their teams wear, with marketing being only one of them.
And whilst areas like finance and WHS seem to receive attention – because of a more clearly defined ‘need’ – strategic marketing often seems to be pushed to the side.
Instead reactive, situational marketing occurs.
What I mean by this is that some stationery is created by one supplier, store or office signage by another, website content and design by another, social media posts by yet another, promotional collateral by a different supplier, events run by someone else, public relations is either forgotten or ineffective – and the list could continue!
These are all reactive elements of marketing. Something comes up and someone is tasked to complete that job.
Marketing happens even when you’re not looking!
I often laugh when businesses tell me they don’t ‘do’ marketing. The fact is I have yet to encounter a business that isn’t undertaking marketing. But they are just implementing reactive, situational marketing.
The downsides to this are:
- No consistency in messaging
- No consistency of look and feel
- Missed opportunities
- Wasted effort
I run a micro business myself, so I do understand the overwhelm that can occur when it comes to all the different elements of running a business.
But putting together a strategic approach to marketing is actually a lot more straightforward than many people think.
And the benefit is that your existing marketing efforts will become more effective and you will be able to implement more marketing, just by virtue of having a more holistic view.
Now I’m not saying it’s easy! But I am saying that it is ‘do-able’ and you will thank me for highlighting this for you!