Unless you sell something totally unique and amazing (and let’s face it, very few of us do), potential customers won’t be looking for you, ringing you, searching for you online unless you are there and reminding them of your product/service and what it can do for them on a regular basis.
Consistency is key. One off events or public relations pieces won’t lift your sales and brand awareness long term unless you are pushing the business and its benefits all the time. And this is where most business owners fall down as they’d prefer to concentrate on the actual product or the service rather than marketing or selling it.
As a business owner if you are serious about growing your business, you need to spend quality time marketing the business, online, offline and face to face. Don’t wait until the work dries up and then go crazy trying to get your marketing working. Your marketing needs to happen all the time your target market is looking for your product or service. So how do you make sure that happens?
Have a marketing plan – Yes it will take time and effort but when you have a plan laid out, all you have to do is act on it, rather than reinventing the wheel each time the work or sales dry up.
Have a marketing calendar – break down your plan to daily, weekly and monthly activities and schedule what needs to be done in your diary/to do list.
Make time for your marketing – devote a set amount of time each day or week for your social media marketing, radio advertising, internet marketing, SEO or networking (whatever you identified in your marketing plan that will deliver results for you) and do it (there will always be more urgent things to do but they probably aren’t as important as regularly marketing your product).
Outsource or delegate if you don’t have the time to do your own marketing. Often the cost is minimal compared to the return you get.
Evaluate what’s working and what’s not working and amend your plan.
Make time for growing your business. Like everything in life, the more effort you put in, the more you return you’ll get.
