Working on your marketing doesn’t have to be an expensive, multi-month project. Paying attention to the “little things” can produce big results. Here are 5 things you can do this week to work on your marketing and grow your business. You don’t have to do all five – pick one or two:
1. Schedule marketing appointments with yourself. The best way to make progress on your marketing system is to spend time working on it consistently. Get out your calendar and block off 90 minutes per week for the next month to work on your marketing.
2. Refer business to one of your customers. We have all heard the adage that we need to “give to get,” but when did you last refer business to one of your customers? If you are a B2B service provider, you probably have all kinds of people in your network who could benefit from knowing one another. Help your customers grow their business, and they will help you grow yours.
3. Invite a prospect (or customer) to a networking event. Do you attend chamber meetings, lunch and learns, or other networking events? Why not invite prospects and customers to attend with you? This can be a great way to learn more about your customers and their business.
4. Review your (email) Sent folder to discover frequently asked questions. One of the things that bogs down our marketing efforts is producing relevant content. Whether it is content for our website, blog, newsletter, or social media, it often takes us longer to decide what to write than it does.
Most of us find it much easier to answer questions. We answer questions every day – in person, on the phone, and via email. And we probably answer the same questions over and over again. The questions and their accompanying answers make great marketing content.
The next time you are stuck trying to think of what to write about, take a look through the sent folder of your email program and leverage the work you have already done.
5. Write down 3 ways to identify who is NOT your ideal customer. While it is important to define your ideal customer as narrowly as possible, small business owners often get hung up on this part of their marketing strategy. Sometimes it’s easier to define who we don’t want to work with. Once we know how to identify who we don’t want to work with, we can refine our marketing messages, improve our qualification processes, and better educate our referral partners. Knowing who are ideal customers are helps us do a better job of marketing; avoiding non-ideal customers keeps us out of energy-draining “lose-lose” situations. It will also help to work with leads so they soon become paid customers.
photo credit – Leo Reynolds on Flickr
