If there’s one thing that is consistent in running a business, it’s that everyone wants more clients, more members, more customers, more people buying what they are selling.
But, the reality is… more people in the door is one of the hardest things to actually get.
And it’s called marketing.
For many business owners, marketing is a mystery. What works? What doesn’t? If it works for the guy down the street, why isn’t it working for me?
The key to your business success lies in how effectively you market your services.
You run an event, it needs to be marketed. You create a new program, it needs to be marketed. You want more members, you’ve got to market to get them.
So, how do you get your message out there in a way that people want to bite the hook?
Create your Marketing Strategy.
Why does a Marketing Strategy matter? The short answer is: because it saves you money.
In marketing, there is strategy and there are tactics. And there is a big difference between the two. Often, we see business owners doing the latter. In hope of attracting new members, they throw a bunch of things at the wall, hoping that some of it sticks. Problem is, all that takes time, and money… and sometimes lots of both.
John Wanamaker was famous for saying, “Half of the money I spend on advertising/marketing is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
Creating a marketing strategy before you begin executing on the tactical things allows you to think through your plan and apply your limited marketing budget more effectively.
Some of the benefits of creating a Marketing Strategy include:
- Peace of mind from being proactive, rather than reactive with your marketing efforts
- Confidence in knowing you are prepared
- Structure in your business so that you can budget for what’s ahead
- Organization for your team so they know what’s coming
How do you begin creating your Marketing Strategy?
First, it’s important to spend time getting in the head of your potential client. Who are they? What do they value? When you can get clear on the specific factors that drive their choices and behavior, you will be that much closer to planning events and communicating in ways that speak to what they will buy.
Once you understand who you are messaging to, get out a calendar and think through the next 3 months. Look at the holidays, and see what events you can plan around the holidays. Decide what challenges you want to run, what specialty classes you want to offer, and what events you want to host both for your members and to attract new people in the door.
Once you schedule these in your calendar, list everything you need to do to make each one of those things happen. Focus on one event at a time, starting with the ones that are scheduled to happen first. Answer questions like… How are you going to promote it on social media? What do you need to order/reserve? Who can you bring on board to help you and delegate things to? What email automation do you need in place to ensure good communication, leading up to the event and afterwards?
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash