At this time of year, many of my customers are too busy just trying to survive until New Year’s to worry about marketing their business. I suspect this is true for many professionals who provide a service to other businesses.
If you find your business is slowing down or even drying up for the next two weeks, this is an excellent time to finish your 2013 marketing plan.
First, review how 2012 went. Did you meet your financial goals? If not, why not?
In many cases failure to meet financial goals comes down to marketing. Here’s a list of questions to ask about your marketing in 2012:
- Did you do enough marketing and did you do it consistently? Many people fit marketing in when “they have enough time”. But lets face it, we never have enough time. If you didn’t make marketing a priority, you probably didn’t do it regularly.
- Do you have a well defined niche and are you clearly marketing to that niche? Saying “I market to women” is not a defined niche. Saying “I market to married women in their 40s who have chronic pain that is preventing them from doing the things they enjoy” is a defined niche. If a woman fits the profile, she’ll say “that sounds like me”. Get specific.
- Is the language in your marketing appropriate? This means you use words your clients are using, not words others in your field use. For example, I used to talk about social media marketing until my research showed that only other social media experts were using the term “social media”. My clients were using “Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter”. What are the words your clients use to describe their problem and the solution you provide?
- Is your list growing or shrinking? Some of the people on your email list or your connections on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter will leave you from time to time, often for reasons beyond your control. So you must always be adding new people.
- Do you make it easy for people to buy from you? Is it clear what services you offer? Is it easy for potential customers to buy from you or get in touch? I see too many websites with no contact information. At the very least you need an email address but you should probably have a phone number as well.
- Is your free gift compelling and up-to-date? Remember that people want to know, like and trust you before they take out their wallet to buy from you. Offering something of value for free gives them a chance to try you out with little cost (they just need to offer up their email address).
- Do you have a “call to action”? I think this is the biggest mistake people make with their marketing. None of us want to be “that guy” – the cheesy, sleazy, used-car salesman who badgers people into buying. On the other hand, you need to ask for the sale.
- Are you staying in touch with your list? Building an email list and a following on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is important, but you can’t make money from your list if you don’t stay in touch with them. Be sure to provide interesting, helpful and entertaining content in between making an offer or asking for the sale. If you don’t email your list at least once a month, they’ll forget who you are and why they signed up in the first place.
- Are you too professional? No, I’m not crazy. Being too professional can harm your marketing – especially online where they can’t look you in the eye first. Remember that people want to know, like and trust you before they buy. So you need to stop being some anonymous presence online and show some personality. Give people a taste of who you are when you’re not working.
- Record your basic stats: the size of your email list; Facebook friends; Facebook fans; LinkedIn connections; Twitter followers; website traffic. Compare them to this time last year. If you didn’t record last year’s stats, vow to do it from now on. If you use Outlook or Google Calendar, set up an automatic reminder to review your stats. Set up a spread sheet for recording them.
Make an honest assessment of your marketing. Even better is to get feedback. Ask your customers, colleagues or friends. Check with your master mind group. Or ask a coach for some honest feedback.
When you’re finished looking at the past, start planning for the future. Come back tomorrow when I share a simple plan for creating your 2013 marketing plan and calendar.
Andrea J. Stenberg
