Recently a business owner said, “I think I’ll try a bit of marketing.” Business was slow and he realised he had to do something. So his solution was “a bit of marketing.”
Well, you can do “a bit of marketing” but it’s rarely very successful. It’s usually a “bit” successful or a “bit” unsuccessful.
For many years as I struggled to build my web business I used to try little bits of marketing here and there. Frankly it had the small impact equal to the measure I was putting into my marketing.
Small strategy, small thinking, small campaigns and guess what – small results. Yet the crazy thing was I was always disappointed at the results being so small.
Sad to day, that’s pretty typical of most small business owners
I know a company that has a beautiful website selling a natural health supplement. They make hardly any sales off it and the owner complains “it doesn’t work”. I looked at the website. It’s great – but it hardly gets any visitors, maybe two or three people a day. No wonder it doesn’t make any sales. But this business owner will not do any marketing, using Google AdWords or Facebook, which I have recommended repeatedly. Why? because “it’s too expensive”. She adds, “I might do a bit of marketing later when things settle down a bit.”
I see this time and again with my clients – and I’ve been guilty of it myself. Just wanting to try ‘a bit’ of marketing to see what happens. I can tell you what happens. Doing ‘a bit’ of marketing gives you a bit of a result – good and bad – but just a bit!
You need a marketing strategy that is planned and ongoing
It took me many years to learn this. I would do a bit of marketing, then some work would come in and I’d get busy, so the marketing would stop. Then the work would dry up and, oh, “I need to do a bit more marketing.” So the up and down cycle continues for most small businesses.
But doing a strategic and planned marketing campaign builds your business, your relationship with your prospects and customers, and your bottom-line.
My main area of expertise is online marketing – pay-per-click ads on Google and Facebook, email marketing, website copywriting etc. – so that’s what I focus my main marketing efforts on. But other forms of marketing work just as well for some businesses – flyers, direct mail etc. What ever you do, figure out what’s the best way to reach your target market and set up an ongoing, planned marketing campaign.
You need to do some marketing every week – ideally every day!
I now have a personal habit of spending the first hour of my day doing marketing to promote my web services. That’s every day, between 9am and 10am. I do it first, because I realise there’s nothing more important. It took me a while to realise that, which is ironic since I am in the marketing business, but thankfully I did and things have turned around.
Without marketing, you don’t have a business! So stop dreaming and hoping customers/clients will somehow find you. You have a website that you spent a small fortune on and make no sales, no leads, nothing from it. Why? Because it’s just a website and not part of the bigger picture or marketing strategy.
OK I think you get the point
So, you can either do marketing yourself (if you’re good at it). Or you can outsource it to an expert. Either way, there’s an investment involved – it’s either your time or your money. No way around that. But the funny thing is, I’ve found – the more you invest in marketing, the more your business is going to grow.
If you are ready to get serious about marketing online – lets talk. I can help you create results from online marketing based on 10+ years of experience. But after reading this you’ll understand why I’m not interested in working with people who just want to try “a bit” of marketing – because ‘a bit of marketing’ usually only brings a ‘bit of a result’. That’s not good for you and it’s not good for me. So, serious applications only. If that describes you, I’d love to hear from you, and let’s talk!