Probably the single most asked question by small-business owners around the world is, “What marketing should I do to drive business sales, revenue and growth?”
Given there are so many forms of ‘marketing’ these days including email marketing, Google AdWords, social media, an ad in the local paper, a promotional event, billboards and many, many more, it’s no reason why small-business owners feel overwhelmed, frustrated and disillusioned when it comes to marketing – the list is endless.
These forms of marketing, we call them ‘tactics’. The list of marketing tactics options for small business is infinite, and what makes it more frightening is that these tactics are often trial and error, measuring, assessing, reassessing and trying different things until you start to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
This is pretty normal when it comes to marketing, even the big guys do it. The problem is, the big guys can afford it (sometimes), but generally, small-business owners need to nail what works pretty quickly, or at least quicker than big business. The budgets are leaner, things move quickly, and no one is wating around for them.
And this is the bigger issue. These tactics are actually secondary in the scheme of things when it comes to the real meaning and effectiveness of marketing.
Why? What is it that you’re communicating in these marketing tactics that is different to the competition? How are you best standing out from the competition, and what position in the mind of your potential customers and clients does your brand and business own?
Your brand positioning is key and should be done first. This strategy, or your brand positioning – how you position your business and brand in the minds of your customers and clients – is what will assist making the ‘tactics’ effective.
This brand positioning should all revolve around why you’re different to the competition.
We see so many small-business owners waste time and money doing it all in reverse and wonder why their marketing isn’t working.
What you don’t want to do is start executing your marketing tactics, like building a website or running Google AdWords or sending out flyers to the local area, when you don’t really know why you’re different to the competition. What’s the message on those flyers that makes you stand out? Why are you different?
You want to ensure you don’t waste valuable resources like your team’s time or bucket loads of cash on tactics that aren’t targeted, engaging, or telling people why you are different to the competition. Once you do discover your point of difference, make sure that you’re communicating it consistently across all your tactics.
If the positioning isn’t right, any investment you make in getting your business and brand out there will be a waste. We know in small business that every dollar matters and every dollar invested in marketing should be objective driven. Remember, if can you define why you’re different, and what your core message is, the investment made in getting your brand out there is a waste.
Once your positioning is confirmed, it’s time to decide how you can get this message out there and communicate that point of difference through your marketing tactics.
