What Marketing Really Means To a Small Biz Owner

–>The money is in the list.
–>Content is king.
–>Social media everything.
–>Share, serve, give.
–>Selling is bad.
–>Selling is good.
–>Fake it till you make it.
–>Get out of your own way.
*Sigh*

Stop the madness!

As a fellow small biz owner I get it. So many voices and messages and shiny new things all guaranteed to bring in paying clients.

But what do you do if it isn’t working all that well. Or maybe not at all?

It can make the best-intentioned, goal-focused entrepreneur start screaming for help or hiding and hoping somehow things will all work out.

I’m a big fan of visualizing your success, but hope and prayer are not a marketing plan.

[Tweet “We both know that to be successful you have to consistently implement a marketing plan that works for you.”]

FOR YOU.

That’s key. For every guru promise there’s someone else touting the opposite. You finally got things rolling on Facebook only to hear that all the cool kids are over on Periscope and Snapchat.

Huh? Enough!

I’ve had conversations like these with several clients so please know you are not alone. We’re all swimming in so much information it’s no wonder we find ourselves flitting from one thing to another or not doing much of anything at all because we can’t decide WHAT to do.

Let’s take a sane look at this and get some clarity. Take a deep breath and let’s simplify.

Marketing has one purpose; to help our clients or prospective clients.

“Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go.” ~Seth Godin

Help them what?

That’s what you have to answer. How can you make them better, faster, safer? Or how can you save them time, money, resources, anxiety? What can you offer that will entertain, delight, and satisfy?

Simple concepts are often hard to wrangle. But I promise you it’s worth the effort. Ask for help. Quiz your clients. Why do people buy from you now? How did they find you? What do they like most?

When you can truly understand WHY they buy and WHERE they hang out the rest is all about connecting.

Here’s a good example:
The most successful crowdfunding campaigns tell a story that we all want to be part of. We invest with our money (even if it’s just $1) but most importantly, we invest with our emotion. When it’s done well, we feel like we’re part of something bigger.

How can you help your clients do that? Need help figuring it out?
Give me a shout.