I’m on a mission to help 1,000 businesses do Better Smarter Marketing. Why am I on this mission? Well, when I launched my business full time in January I saw a lot of small business owners making mistakes with their marketing efforts.
1. I saw a lot of salesy posts on Facebook and very little engagement or conversation.
2. I saw the exact same sales post being shared into multiple groups with the same members one after the other.
3. I saw a lot of ‘me me me’ on social media. People posting what they were doing or selling and why they wanted you to buy/book/sign up.
4. I saw generic email newsletters being blasted out to everyone on their list.
5. Even worse I saw people following the bad advice of marketing experts or other ‘gurus’ who were sharing their ‘proven method’ or ‘winning formula’.
Number five bugs me a lot. I’m sure you know the type of self proclaimed gurus I mean, those who share their exact methods to get a gazillion new followers or make six figure sales. But the problem with this is that just because these methods worked for their business it doesn’t mean that they will work for yours.
Every business is different and I believe that the right marketing strategy for your company is not the same as mine or the person sat next to you. Your clients wants needs and desires will be different to mine. Your products and services will be different to mine. Even if you are operating in the same industry as me with a similar offering you are not me. And you will do things differently. As independent business owners often we are our own USP. Copying the ‘exact steps’ someone else used to grow their business might not be the right methods for your business, and probably won’t get you the same results.
That’s why my Better Smarter Marketing approach starts with your business objectives and your marketing plan. It’s also why I’m running face to face Marketing Surgeries and why I always make sure there is time for introductions and questions during seminars and workshops. It’s important to me that you are able to apply what you learn to your business, and we’ll often talk about if something is even the right thing to apply to your business. Because what is right for your business is not the same as the person sitting next to you.
You can download your Free checklist to Better Smarter Marketing to get started, but I won’t leave you high and dry, I want you to be able to apply these principles to your business. I’m running a series of Better Smarter Marketing Seminars in York over the next couple of month and I would love it if you came along and asked any questions you might have.
I also believe that workshops and seminars should have cake, so you will usually find a home made cake baked lovingly by my grandma waiting for you at these upcoming events too.
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Talking a lot of sense Louise, as usual. Good luck on your mission.
I’ve seen a lot of the over selling, so much so that I was reluctant to even try any selling for myself – very difficult to know the right balance. I read somewhere recently it should be 80% NOT about your own business and to be honest that’s about where I’d be the most comfortable. What do you think?
Nicola, if you are talking about social media then yes an 80/20 ratio of interesting content to promotional content is about right.
Another way of looking at it is to have 3 or 4 posts that are informative or entertaining, (including sharing other people’s posts) before you post a promotional post about your products/services or offer.
Some reports suggest a ratio of 10:1 so only one in ten posts is sales orientated.
It all depends in how often you post and how engaged your audience is.
Great advice! My husband always says the same things about using Facebook for marketing (i.e. Staying away from sell sell sell) but we are still working out how best to refine our use of Facebook for marketing his osteopathy clinic.
Hi Cari, Why don’t you post in Your Marketing Lounge and ask the members for some ideas for the osteopathy clinic, everyone was so helpful last week with event markeitng suggestions.