Sheryl Jefferson — November 18, 2016 Follow @ThatLTMLadyI get it and so many of us have been there. To get our products and services out there to the hungry masses, like it or not, we have to do some kind of marketing. We see it daily and are immersed in it. But where we fail at marketing boils down to one simple thing.
There is no strategy.
It’s easy to set up a post, spend thousands on ads or invest in programs which promise to save us time and money, but why are we doing this to ourselves?
Let’s take a deep breath and take a look at the time-sucking, procrastination-inducing, frustration creating 5 things you are doing which is killing your marketing strategy.
The Message: Who are you and what do you stand for?
You have a brilliant product (of course!) or service that you have created and have poured all of your heart and 1 million captured souls into it.
Rightly so you are excited about it and the benefits it will bring to the wider world and the natural thing that you want to do is to tell everybody about it because you truly believe it will have the power to transform lives.
NEWSFLASH!
What you have will not be marketable to everyone; you cannot serve the world!
I like to compare it as this; if you are a dentist, as brilliant as getting the perfect white straight-toothed smile, it will not be of any use for someone who is suffering with chronic back pain!
It’s time to get clear and focused on your niche and who you actually serve.
Who are you?
What do you do?
What is your message and what do you stand for?
If the above is not clear even to yourself, then you are confusing your intended audience. How can you expect them to but from you if they are unclear of what it is you do and how you can help them? If they are confused, they will not buy from you. True stories!
Also think about how is your product or service relevant to them at this time? How is it going to get them that transformational change so they can dream, picture, get excited and salivate about the thought of joining you on that journey from pain (hopefully not literal!) to pleasure
Shiny Object Syndrome
The difference between entrepreneurs is that the successful ones are busy with the tasks that make profit.
So many distractions; ideas, emails, courses, and watching what others are doing can take your eye off the prize. You feel like you want to try them all at once to hit success but ultimately all this activity is taking you further away from your goals and keeping you in the murky seas of overwhelm.
It’s time to get super focused! Build your solid foundation and concentrate on goals one step at a time!
If there is a course or project you invested in, fully immerse yourself in it and challenge yourself to finish it. It’s quicker to get it done that way instead of stopping and starting.
Also if you see something that looks A-MAZING and your palm is itching to get your card out, question do you actually need it? And when you have it are you actually going to use it?
If not, that money you will have spent can be better used to invest back into your business to get recourses to free up your time to get someone in to help you with that task you are struggling with (I strongly believe in hard work, but not the struggle that makes you dizzy and drives you to bang your head against the wall!)
This will help you get disciplined in seeing things through and those small wins can be the start of something that will grow into a bigger success because you put the work in to see it through.
Clarity in your strategy
The main stumbling block entrepreneurs overlook but is vital they get sorted out is to clarify exactly what their strategy is. Sometimes it may look a bit like this:-
Grow my following
Implement my sales funnel
Start doing Facebook Ads
Create a blog
These in themselves are great strategies but only make up part of the story. You need to break it down into parts. WHY you are doing this.
Why will growing my following help?
Why do I need a sales funnel?
Why do I need to start with Facebook ads?
Why blog?
Think about the WHYs; does it serve you and your business and will it ultimately help you achieve your goals?
Then we need to break it down into the HOW
OK, so now I am clear that I need to start a funnel to leverage my business. How am I going to go about it, do I have the recourses/time/money needed?
Again you need to question does that part of the strategy align with your overall goal? If not and it does not serve your time, then don’t be afraid to ditch it until you find something that does!
‘Jocking Their Style’
I’m sure you are seeing it already; the online world is noisy. It’s loud and down-right overwhelming!
Surely there is a way to be noticed above all this noise?
You might look at what others are doing and see they are absolutely crushing it online. They have all the success you want and it makes you so envious! People are flocking to them in droves, they are making 6-7 figures and look marvellous in the process.
You begin to think they must be doing something right and want that success to rub off on you. Before you know it, like a werewolf at full moon you have morphed into something you do not recognise or worse still, just a copy-cat spewing out the same story and message of your idol.
Do not fall into that trap!
Behind all of these success stories what they are not telling you is the sheer hard work it takes to make it all happen. Despite everything these successful people will stop at nothing to make sure their brand is successful and they work hard and show up to create magical things,
There is then a large percentage of ‘copy-cats’ who try to replicate this success formula, but what they cannot replicate is the drive, the sweat and tears, the passion and the unique message the person they are imitating has.
Today more than ever it’s also very easy to fake success; a few pictures of a Starbucks coffee with the latest handbag and standing on a beach is sadly what people look up to as being successful. Sad news is that anyone can fake it, that is the easy part.
Very soon you run the risk of falling on your face, being called out or giving up altogether.
Let’s be real, if you are not making money then you do not have a business, you are living a fantasy.
Be true to you, your values and what you stand for and with consistency, hard work, guidance and the right mindset people will begin to notice and listen to what you have to say. People are surprised that growth happens quickly when they apply that formula!
Not investing in the right help
When many entrepreneurs start out (and I was definitely guilty of this!) they sign up to as many free things as they could to give them ideas and inspiration to grow their business.
The danger of this is that most of the time this only gives you part of the information and can leave you feeling more frustrated than ever before.
It was only until I invested in the right help that my business quickly grew; a mentor who had been there and can tell me the best way to grow and what pitfalls to avoid in my business and the best strategies to try which helped them and their clients.
I still have mentors today and I wish I did that sooner instead of struggling like a landed fish trying to find a foothold!
We are not all born being an expert at everything! If you find yourself facing a block, get that help right away and invest in an expert who knows how to get it done. This could be help with your marketing or coaching within your business to inspire and push you faster toward your goals.
Instead of doing it by yourself, surround yourself in what you want to become and get that help to grow yourself and your business in order to build the best strategies to build and grow your empire.
This article originally appeared here and has been republished with permission.
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