If you’re in the same boat as most small business owners, you’re already wearing way, way too many hats – from janitor to cost accountant and everything in between. And while some tasks are elementary (a trained monkey could handle them in their sleep) other tasks require expertise sometimes far beyond your skill level, and regardless of you aptitudes (or lack thereof) the net effect to many responsibilities adds up and piles onto your already vastly over crowded plate.
Nowhere is this more evident in small biz land than with marketing – a fact I can attest to both in my experiences working with countless small businesses working diligently to marketing their businesses and in managing my own business.
Those brave small biz operators who opt for the DIY market route tend to fall into one of two categories:
- Those ignoring marketing all together
- Those going overboard or beyond their level of expertise with their marketing program
Ignore Marketing at Your Own Peril
Now, if you’re reading this blog, or any small business marketing blog for that matter, I’m going to spot you the benefit of the doubt that you’re not making the monumentally bone-headed rookie mistake of completely or actively ignoring marketing your biz. If you honestly fall into category #1, let’s talk privately – very soon, before your biz totally careens of a giant cliff – ryananys@designexpertise.net or 310.466.7893.
Overwhelmed to Death
Odds are, however, if you are reading this blog you’re more likely to fall in category #2 – but don’t wear your arm out patting yourself on the back there, chief, because you’re biz is ost likely hurtling toward the same cliff…
Despite how diametrically opposed these two categories may seem, the end result is generally the same: Marketing Failure.
KISS Me, I’m…Stupid
This brings us to the clever yet vaguely offensive acronym referenced in this posts title: KISS.
I’ve heard it spelled out a few different ways, but the version that’s always stuck with me (prolly because I’m a glutton for some negative reinforcement) spells out:
Keep – It – Simple – Stupid
When it comes to marketing your business, what KISS really means is: Less is More. The more you can do, with less resources, following a simple plan, tailored to you business’s particular needs, the better you’ll be over the long run.
KISS is particularly apropos when you’re startup, solo entrepreneur or small business owner already donning one to many of the aforementioned “hats.”
Marketing is the success engine powering your biz, but taking on too much usually results in a systemic marketing failure. And what does this failure look like? Oh, let me count the ways (and offer up a few potential solutions)…
No marketing strategy – This tactic sounds great! Oh, so does that one! And that one too! Let’s just do ‘em all! Throwing every marketing tactic (and the kitchen sink) into your marketing mix without any definite goals or road map of how to get there – a specific marketing strategy – is no more effective than doing nothing. Sure, marketing options abound, but marketing success stems from selecting the right vehicle for your business.
Solution: This one’s mad easy – get yourself a strategy: (1) define your goals, (2) do a little leg work and identify the best tactics for reaching your target customer, (3) Formulate a plan, and (4) write it all down.
Overwhelmed to in-action – Marketing channels abound these days. In many ways, now is a better time than ever for DIY marketing your biz. But this very abundance has crippled many a savvy small biz operator. With so many channels to choose from, you’re likely to grab a fist full of options and try to cram ‘em in all at once, which always turns out badly. What happens when you overdo it eating way too many cookies from a delicious batch right out of the oven? A tummy ache that makes you wish you hadn’t. Similarly, when you launch a cornucopia of marketing initiative you quickly realize you’ve got too much to manage, and end up abandoning the whole lot.
Solution: If you followed the suggestion identified in solution #1, you should have already identified the tactics that speak to your target customer base. Trying to keep a handle on ten different tactics, however, is a lot to handle. Focus in on one tactic at a time, and once you get the hang of it, or dismiss it as ineffective, then move on to the next.
Lack of specific expertise – Email marketing is low cost and seemingly free. Social media marketing is free and seemingly easy. Low cost online digital printing services make direct mail and other print media marketing initiative appear to be a snap. And the list goes on… But once you dive into anyone of these disciples (God forbid you tackle more than one at the same time), you’ll discover converting new customers and clients is not easy. Each tactic requires a certain amount of experience, and trial and error to perfect – expertise which develops over time.
Solution: You don’t need to be an email expert or a social media expert or a whatever expert to effectively market your business using these tactics, but you do need to invest some time and actually learn how these mediums work, and how much work is required to actually convert a customer. The cost and technological easy of use may be low, but that doesn’t mean using a particular tactic is “easy.”
Mismanagement – You’ve got your strategy. You’ve focused in on the tactic (or two) that makes sense for your biz, and invested the time to figure out what the heck yer doin’. But, as often is the case, your business, and your life as a whole has gotten away from you, and before you know it, you’ve dropped the ball and your well-oiled marketing locomotive is steaming off the tracks.
Solution – As soon as you’ve got our marketing program in a good place – you’ve identified and implemented tactics garnering your desired results – it’s time to investing a in solid marketing automation service. Marketo, Eloqua, Silverpop, and my personal fave – Hubspot, all offer affordable options geared toward small businesses with limited budgets.
What About You?
Am I just a total lunatic, because you’ve successfully rolled ten vastly desperate marketing tactics at once and scored big with your you small biz? Or perhaps you know exactly what I’m talking about, because you’ve fallen down a marketing rabbit hole or two trying to manage to much marketing action all at once.
Talkback: Spill your guts and tell us all your marketing management triumphs and failures, we want to hear all about it.
