The number one job that you have as a business owner is growing the business and the way that people become aware of your business is through your marketing efforts. This means that whether you like it or not, if you are a business owner, you are a marketer. Many of us went into business to do the thing that the business does and to serve clients, and then had an ah-ha moment that without clients, there’s no business. Welcome to where Marketing fits in.
In recent articles, we’ve explained that random acts of marketing and insta-tactics that promote a one-size-fits-everyone approach do not work. Instead, it is essential to create a unique marketing plan for your specific business that is consistent, actionable, and focuses on audience growth.
Your Marketing Plan Should be Actionable and Consistent
Many business owners end up in a cycle that looks like this: you market to get a new client. When you get the client, you stop marketing. When you are done helping that client, you market for the next client. These starts and stops in your marketing and client acquisition create gaps in your cash flow. This is why our marketing plan needs to be consistent.
A consistent marketing plan starts by breaking down your activities into items that are actionable and maintainable. Actionable means that you know specifically what you need to do. You break down what you need to do into the smallest pieces of that process and put them on your calendar and then follow through by doing them.
For example, if your plan is to create three social media posts a week, plan ahead what you are going to say, so that on the day that you are supposed to post, you don’t get stalled by not knowing what to say. In order to plan that content, put a block of time on your calendar for when you are going to think about what you want to say. In that same planning period you can schedule those posts in advance and add time on your calendar for when they post so that you can interact with anyone who comments.
In order to be consistent, your plan also has to be maintainable, meaning you can keep doing it. Consistency is important because it is easier to keep a slow roll than to start and stop. Every time you stop completely, it is harder to get started again. If you have heard the phrase “prime the well” it refers to those old fashioned wells that were hand pumped, where if there is a trickle of water coming out of it it is easy to keep going. But when the pump is completely dry, it is much harder to get it started. So to “prime the well” of your business, your marketing plan must be maintainable to avoid starts and stops.
Using the social media example, posting three times a week should be maintainable, but creating a plan where you post seven times a week and spend three hours a day trying to network your business in social media business groups is probably not maintainable. If your plan is too much for you to maintain from week to week, you are more likely to quit entirely. It is more maintainable to get in the habit of those three social media posts and scale to more posts a week as you are able to create a streamlined process or hire a team member to help you.
Your Marketing Plan Should Focus on Short-Term Active Strategies
Your marketing plan should focus on items that have a short-term, actionable return on your investment instead of activities that are long-term and passive in nature. I often see business owners creating marketing plans based on passive activities that only produce a return on their investment way down the road. The reality is that most people run out of money before those types of activities work for them.
A passive marketing strategy is one in which you are not in control of who sees or interacts with your marketing. It means that you are relying on someone to see your marketing and contact you to express their interest in working with you. With a passive marketing activity, you have zero influence over the process. Passive marketing activities include social media posts, email marketing, and traditional advertising. While they can be an important part of re-engaging and nurturing your target audience, it can take a long time for them to work because you have no influence over whether or not anyone chooses to interact with you.
When your marketing plan includes active short-term strategies, you have a better chance of getting a return on your investment sooner than later. Active means that you have influence over whether or not somebody chooses to interact with you. Short-term means that the activity is happening right away rather than prolonged and dependent upon when somebody sees it.
Networking is a great example of an active marketing activity because you can do the outreach and use your energy, your influence, and your communication to help move the process along. Whether you are networking in person (either online or virtual), or on social media (Linked In or Facebook), you have the ability to initiate a conversation which makes the strategy active in nature. Networking is also a short-term strategy because your ability to start up a conversation is at the time when you are networking, not at a later date.
Your Marketing Plan Should Both Grow and Nurture Your Audience
Audience growth refers to the things that you do that help you meet new people. Audience nurturing refers to the things that you do that help you interact with the people who already know you. My podcast Ready Yet?! is a great example of an audience nurturing activity, because most of the people who listen to the podcast are already familiar with me. My guest appearances on other podcasts are an audience growth activity. Through the marketing of those podcasts, and the listeners who follow them, I am exposed to an entirely new group of people.
It is important to create a marketing plan that both grows a larger audience and nurtures your existing audience. Using networking as an example, if you go to the same networking event over and over again, and see the same people month after month, that is a nurturing activity. In order to grow your audience through networking, it is important to keep finding new networking groups where you can meet new people.
Putting it All Together Into Your Marketing Plan
These three ideas are the pillars to a marketing strategy. When your activities are actionable and maintainable, you can be consistent in your marketing. Prioritizing short-term active strategies over long-term passive strategies will help you see a return on your investment of both financial resources and your time. And a marketing plan that is balanced between audience growth and audience nurturing will help you meet new people as well as re-engage with the people who you have met.
