There’s a very good reason that the ‘How to Market Your Business’ chapter of my latest book is one of the longest (equal only in fact to ‘Planning Your Business’), and it’s because it’s one of the most important foundational factors in getting everything else right…
To build a future of sustained growth, you have to make this foundation rock-solid. So let’s get down to it.
What does your business offer and how do you tell people about it?
I want to begin this blog with an exercise you can do to get immediate value from reading. That is – an exercise to get ultimate clarity on what it is you really do for your customers.
That’s marketing boiled down to a very simple headline, but if you aren’t crystal clear on the benefits of working with you or using your products/services, then you aren’t going be clear when you tell people what you do and ask others to talk about you.
THINK: What is it people really get from working with you? How do you impact your customer’s lives or business?
To help with this exercise, here are some sentences that need to be completed:
- I work with…
- Who struggle with…
- And would like to…
- What separates my service from others is…
- Because of this, my customers are able to…
And to take that exercise into the messaging format, reframe your answers like this:
- I am…
- From…
- And I/we work with…
- Who need…
- So, what we do is…
- So that the customer can…
- Which means that…
Now, let’s go deeper into marketing your business…
Strategy first
A marketing strategy is a process that will allow you to concentrate your resources on the best opportunities to increase sales and achieve a competitive advantage. To begin with, your marketing strategy could be a one or two-page document that is written to be shared with others such as your team, stakeholders, lenders, suppliers or anyone who may need/want to see it. It could include:
Your objectives – Why do you want a sales and marketing plan?
How will you measure success? What will be your key performance indicators?
Who are you marketing to? Have you got a customer avatar, do you know your opportunities, what does your research tell you?
What are your ideal customers’ pains, problems, fears, wants, needs or desires and how are you conveying that you can address them?
How do you position yourself? Do you have a brand identity and a consistent brand voice? Are you positioned at the high end of the market, or budget?
Where will you market? Which channels are best suited to your ideal customer? Glossy magazines, TikTok or somewhere else? Will you lead with video content? Made yourself or professionally shot?
How will you map your customer journey and use that to increase trust and respect between you and your ideal customer? What touch points can you consider and how/what will you communicate along their buyer journey?
There’s a lot to consider for your initial strategy and of course larger and more complex businesses may need a more detailed strategy…
The seven-step marketing plan in summary
Now we’re getting into greater detail about how to market your business, so I’m just going to summarise the essential seven steps with the hope that you are inspired, and your strategic brain begins ticking!
- Be clear on your objective – clarify and write down or illustrate your unique reason why you’re in business
- Understand your audience and markets – do some research on your competitors too
- Look to define your brand and its offering – what makes you different, what is your tone of voice, how do you make people feel and what might they say about you when you’re not in the room?
- Your marketing tactics – what are the activities that will produce the best return? Do you know how much money and time you can afford on each tactic?
- Create a systemised process to pull people towards you with interest
- Measure, manage, evolve
- The activity plan.
These seven steps take you from the nucleus of in idea, to execution and can be applied to every step of starting a business, from formulating the overall plan to the minutia of a single tactic like building a website…
QUESTION: Are you the best kept secret? Some customers know you, and others don’t (yet). This is where the stadium analogy comes in: Picture you on stage at Wembley… Inside are loyal customers who know and love you, will buy from you again and advocate your brand. Outside, there are two types of people: those who are aware of you but maybe left early, or missed the early bird offer, and those who are just passing by to see what the fuss is about. Be mindful of the early leavers/discount shoppers – they need more from you to keep them close. Those hovering to find out more aren’t yet ready to buy and may need more time or stronger reasons… Now, how will you approach each group of people?
Marketing through storytelling
The stadium analogy is an example of using storytelling to illustrate a point. You can employ this tactic through other stories too…
REMEMBER: People buy from people, so share the people behind the business. Some story ideas include:
- Who are you and why are you here? Lot’s of businesses start up with a strong desire to be the solution, often because they couldn’t find a satisfactory one themselves – tell people about it.
- Specific cases of problem solving – Who were they, what were they experiencing? How did you help?
- What motivates you – How do you get energised, who or what keeps you going?
- Share your own pains – Your high or low points in your own business journey. What did you learn?
- Talk about the inner workings of the business – What do the premises look like, who else is with you, what’s your favourite part of the day/week/job?
- Who or what has been intrinsic in your success or progression? What are the little things you’re thankful for?
The point of storytelling is to engage with your audience and share the humanity of the business. This is completely opposite to ‘broadcast marketing’ where you send a message out and don’t expect to get a response, such as with magazine editorial or radio/TV ads. This is relationship marketing where you may well get comments and messages on your social media or on your blogs, that you can interact with, so bear that in mind when you begin.
The holistic approach to market your business
Approaching the problem of how to market your business holistically means encompassing every element of marketing. This can be a complex approach, but it is the most comprehensive one. So what elements are considered fundamental?
- Plan: Strategy and tactics
- Goals: Who, what, where, when and how?
- Brand identity
- Research: Customer, market and competitors
- Platforms: digital/traditional
- Product/service clarity: Benefits and problem solving
- Price: Your market position
- Lead generation
- Relationship vs broadcast marketing
- Marketing budget and priorities
- Customer journey and touch points
- Added value: Freebies or information
- Networking for personal connection
- Track and measure success indicators
Each one of these fundamental elements could be a chapter in itself, so at this point, I will mention my free business e-books that you can download today, and remind you that much greater detail is given in my latest book, ‘Financial Times Guide to Starting a Business’.
I wish I knew this before I started my own business
I’d like to finish up by saying thank you for reading about how to market your business, and share with you three things I wish I’d known before I started…
You are always marketing. It starts on day one… Don’t wait until your offering or your tools are ‘perfect’, start today and keep building, keep learning, and keep enjoying your marketing.
Share your stories, respond to other people’s stories and build relationships – it’s not always just about making the sale.
We all have limited time and resources for marketing, so know what works and why and invest say 80% of your resources into it, while investing 20% into researching other, new or more technical tools… All the best on your marketing journey, I hope this blog has been inspiring – Mike.