Are you sick of being told do this, do that do blah blah blah … Aaaaaaargh!
So, this marketing thing is kinda my thing. I love it! But you know, even though it’s my thing, and even though I love it, there are still days when I feel like this:
Well, actually, more like this:
STOP TELLING ME I HAVE TO DO THIS AND THAT AND EVERYTHING! Stop telling me I have to be on Facebook, and on Twitter, and on Instagram and LinkedIn, and Google+ and have a LinkedIn Group, and have lead magnets and do webinars, and Pinterest and do Periscope and do Google Hangouts and have an email list, and blog, and vlog and grrrroooog or whatever, and do infographics and video series and funnel optimisation and keyword analysis and SEO, and use Google Analytics, and buy more analytics and use Google Search Console, and master copywriting and … just stop!
Because at the end of the day, none of this matters. None of all these shiny objects, with their fiddly things and click here and click that and click this are not going to do anything for me on their own! They’re just not! And there is no way I – or you – or anyone – can be on all of these and do all this stuff well. Not unless we have an army of experts – which, I’m guessing, if you are reading this blog, you don’t have ;)
Yes, they can help. Yes they can be great tools. But just like a carpenter does not need 453 different types of hammers, or 967 different types of nail to build a good wood shed, we don’t need all the tools under the sun to do our marketing. We just need to find the right ones for us.
But how on earth do we do that?
We need to go back to the foundations. Some may say, back to basics. Yet, how many of us have really done the basic foundational work of marketing properly? So what are the foundations:
Who on Earth Are You Talking To?
Assuming we don’t find life form on Mars that we can market to, let’s stick to Earth! ;) … so who are we doing all this for? Who is our target group? Do you know exactly who they are? Have you mapped them out and organised them so you know exactly what to say to each of them for them to bother to listen to you? Do you know exactly where you find them and where they are most receptive to speaking to you? What do they like? What don’t they like? Who makes the decisions? What is it they most need that you can give them? Why would they buy from you?
Are they on Facebook, or Instagram? Are they using Periscope? Do they like to watch videos or pin? Do they like cat pictures or dog pictures? Or detailed guides and instructions? Do they respond more to you being colorful and fun or respectable and demur? Do you know them as people?
Why You and Not Them?
When did you last analyse your competition thoroughly? When a potential customer comes in and asks about your product, and is considering the competitor’s product, do you know exactly what you are up against? Do you know exactly the options they are evaluating and can you tell them, based on this information, why it should be you that gets their business? If your competition is helping people in a way that you are not, giving them tips and help via Twitter or email or wherever else they like to get the information, the competition will get the business. If you do the same as the competition, but just not as well, they will get the business. You need to know them!
Why You Why You Why You?
Why on earth should people want to hang out with you? Why should they listen to you? Be with you? Buy from you? What are you to them? How do they see you? What do they think of you? How do you feel about you? Are you consciously building your brand to attract your ideal customers and build a relationship with them?
What to Do?
Only if you know your target groups well will you know what to say to them and where to say it. Which social medium, in what format, in what words and what message is going to be most powerful to reach them.
Only if you know the choices people are considering (i.e. your competition) can you tell them why they should choose you.
Only if you understand your target audience to know what they like, only if you know the competition to make sure you stand out and are different from them, only when you know what is special about your business, can you build a brand that will attract and build a relationship with your customers.
Only when you know these things can you choose which shiny object to use to communicate your message. The channel matters, but the channel is useless if the message is weak. And the message will be weak if you haven’t laid the foundations. So go ahead and lay the foundations.
Right now I’m offering a free 3-part video series exactly about this. It’s about the 5 Steps to Building a Marketing Machine! And you can check it out right here for a limited time!
