Starting a business is a big step and it takes a lot of effort to get there with proper planning. Often, when you start, you want to believe everything will work our more or less on its own. Because you have some sense of accomplishment, it’s easier to make yourself believe you don’t need to do something about it; at least not right away.
One of these things is marketing, the way you get your word out. It’s easier if you have clients you took with you to your new firm or, sometimes, as a brick and mortar business like a shop or a restaurant where everyone who’s from your neighbourhood will want to know what you’re like, initially. But wherever you are with your business, one thing you cannot disregard is your marketing. Having a great idea still means you need marketing, the only difference is that a great idea will be something exciting, worth remembering and sharing with others. You can’t, though, expect that people will find you if you just put an idea out there. We are not playing hide and seek; and if we were, you would be seeking. Not the idea, but the people.
The best advice I can give you regarding marketing for a self-starter is to know who your audience is. It sounds simple, and in its essence it is, but many people somehow miss this.
If you know who your audience is, your target market, who you are doing this for, you need to put all your efforts into finding them, finding a way to reach them. There are many marketing techniques; the most effective are always the ones that are done face to face, when you have a conversation with someone, when someone recommends you highly to someone else and when you appear as a solution to somebody’s problem exactly when they are looking for it. These three situations are mostly the winning ones. Other techniques can be effective, too, but they can convert only a small per cent of potential customers who come in touch with you.
The one mistake that happens every day in the online world is that many new online business owners or bloggers try to succeed by chasing down the most popular bloggers in the blogosphere. What’s usually wrong with this is that their audiences are not the same. Even if a small fraction of people from one group has some of the same interests as people from the other group, it’s not worth fishing in that pond because the fish you catch might not be the one you are looking for. Or, better said, it’s a poor return on your investment. You can do a lot better for the time you are spending there.
Be very clear who your audience is even before you start your micro business and once you do, focus most of your energy on getting your message to them. I would even go so far to say that you need to spend 60-70 per cent of your time on marketing when you start. As things move forward, when you start getting regular clients and notice a steady increase, you will be able to cut some of that time down, but until this happens, you need to really work on this to become successful. It doesn’t matter where you need to go, if you don’t know where to find them, you need to figure it out and do the work. Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s more complicated. Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be the criteria for choosing your business.
Marketing techniques that engage the audience and involve some kind of activity are always the most memorable and get the best results, taking into consideration the number of people involved. You don’t need to be an expert to do marketing. It’s just communicating a message the right way to the right people. Don’t be guided by some stories you heard; like everybody chasing the same 15 people hoping they will make them successful or, in a brick and mortar business, relaying solely on magic and word of mouth. Word of mouth is great, but it’s not enough. Don’t let yourself ruin your opportunities by being lazy and not doing the things that are hard, but crucial to create a micro business and the freedom you want.
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photo courtesy onkel_wart
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
Thank you very much! I will.