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Turn Marketing Cost To Marketing Investment

Mar 30 2021

Often, when I talk to small business owners about the need for them to market their businesses properly, the conversation usually turns to how costly it can be.

People talk about the cost of marketing material, the cost of advertising, the cost of other marketing activities, and if they think to prepare them, the cost of preparing marketing plans.

I prefer to think of expenditure on marketing as an investment rather than a cost, and especially if what you spend leverages into multiple sale volumes.

But this is often difficult to see for a number of reasons:

Not many small businesses have focused marketing plans so their marketing activity ends up as a shot in the dark without any significant returns
As a result, their marketing is a scatter gun approach so the cost of running marketing activities is not met by significant increases in sales
When they do decide to prepare a marketing plan, they hire a consultant, at a significant cost, and the resulting plan is hard to follow because they are not actively engaged in the “advice” given
Consultant-prepared marketing plans don’t allow for the business owner to adapt and amend as they roll it out.

What these small business owners (you?) need is a cost-effective way to turn the cost of a marketing plan and its implementation into an investment in finding more sales.

Comment 13

What Is Marketing?

Mar 23 2021

If I asked you “What is marketing?” you might give me a technical definition or you might describe to me what it is.

But I’m pretty sure that what one person tells me is going to be different from what another small business owner tells me because there is a lot of misunderstanding out there about marketing.

When I ask “How do you market?” the definitions and stories get even worse!

I get answers like:

You have to have a great call to action
Tell them how awesome you are
It’s about closing the sale
You just have to be determined (others say it differently “You have to be pushy”
Keep asking until they run out of excuses

So, what is it?

Comment 13

Take This Marketing Challenge!

Jan 26 2021

You run a business, and you know you need to do your marketing.

Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it before – if you don’t market, you don’t sell.

But come on, everyone knows small business owners are busy.

We haven’t got time to do all this Business School stuff! We market by treating our customers right, by giving them what they want, and we market by painting a big sign outside and paying for an ad in the corner of the newspaper.

Right?

Well, I’m saying to you – not only is that not true, but that’s also not the kind of marketing that will bring people to your doors.

That is not the kind of marketing that will grow your business.

In fact, that’s the type of “marketing” that keeps you in your rut and keeps you too busy to do anything to grow your business, because that’s struggle-street marketing.

That’s the kind of marketing you do when you don’t know how to market and you go back to rely on what you know best – just doing what you’re doing!

You can market more effectively.

You can find the time if you do it scientifically and here’s how.

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Small Business Building Blocks – Marketing

Jul 28 2020

I have spent 40 years working with small business owners in the UK, the US, South East Asia, and Australia.

If there is one thing I have learned about growing a small business is that, anywhere you are, a successful small business owner needs to develop six things within their business.

They may have started with an idea or a skill, but ultimately what sets a successful small business owner apart from an unsuccessful one is that they learn to develop these six factors over and above any idea or skill.

I call them The Six Business Success Factors (and further below you can download my free Guide on how you can follow a roadmap to develop yours).

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Small Business in COVID-19: Marketing During COVID-19

May 12 2020

Last week I wrote about four strategies to employ during the current pandemic crisis to keep your business going.

This week I wanted to talk about how you can still continue marketing during the crisis.

First of all, let’s get this straight – I have heard a lot of people say that they feel awkward marketing during the crisis because they feel everyone is in the same boat.

That’s only half true – everyone is in the same boat, but why does that equate to not doing business?

So, let’s look at how you can still conduct your marketing even during the lockdown.

Comment 13

Increase your sales through a highly focused marketing plan!

SMART Marketing: In this book, the owners of a small business are led through the SMART Marketing 7 Step Process to produce a marketing plan targeted at their most desirable customers. Any business can use these principles and in 4 to 6 weeks implement a plan to get them through the door! Find out how...

The SMART Marketing Workbook: Companion to “SMART Marketing”, this workbook sets out the SMART Marketing process in 7 workshops for you and your staff to complete questionnaires and templates that at the end, form the marketing plan you need to sell your REAL product to your REAL customer! View now...

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Turn Marketing Cost To Marketing Investment

What Is Marketing?

Take This Marketing Challenge!

Small Business Building Blocks – Marketing

Small Business in COVID-19: Marketing During COVID-19