You run your own business, you sell your goods and services to those that want or need you, but before they can do so, they must at the very least know that you are there and ready to do so. And that means marketing your business.
Among the myriad of tasks that you have to do such as tax forms, stock upkeep, sweeping the floor and making yourself a cup of tea there is the task of promoting your business. putting your face or name in-front of the people that you believe will help you to make money. It’s a task not everyone is comfortable with or can easily apply themselves but here’s a few pointers that will help highlight when or how marketing isn’t working to help your business.
Pointer: Market your sales, not your marketing.
Screaming loudly and attracting attention from everyone is no good unless it means those people are in turn becoming revenue for your business, don’t set out marketing plans which take recourse of your business but end up doing little to promote income for the business, be sure that when you are planning a marketing idea that the end effect that is measured is sales, not footfall, not web-hits, not phone calls; Sales is the effect you want and that is what any marketing should affect.
Pointer: The amount of time, effort or cash that you dedicate to marketing varies wildly over time.
Surely this can’t be detrimental? when you have the resource available or the workload is low you should push for more customers… It’s all to common that a small business goes up and down like this, but it is not a great way to allow the business to grow steadily over time. It’s better to allow a slow stead growth than to scramble fervently for a mass of trade only to then realise that it falls off again when you re-dedicate your resources. Try to work to a budget plan, both a minimum and a maximum limit can help.
Pointer: People or previous customers describe your business in different ways.
What does this mean? If you or the team you are working with don’t present a common and stable idea of what your business does then the message of what you can do for others could become muddled, and confusion can unsettle a potential customer. Just be sure you are presenting your business with some clarity, even in everyday passing comments of your business.
Pointer: You aren’t working on the correct things.
It’s great that a business owner can welcome trade when it is available, but it’s better when a business and those that work within it are doing things that they enjoy or are particularly adept at. You should, as part of the recognition of your business really promote the work that you do best and that could mean not doing other revenue generating tasks. The outcome of such an approach is that your business should thrive on what it really does, and not get by on things that aren’t as productive but act as a top-up on the balance. Identify what could potentially be the wrong type of custom for your business and be prepared to say no.
Let’s hope that some of this makes sense to your business, and more importantly let’s further hope that it means that you can make real beneficial decisions on how your business is presented and promoted.
