Running a small business is no easy task given the number of responsibilities involved. Such tasks include keeping up with one’s finances, hiring and training staff, as well as marketing to prospective customers. If you want to stay in business, you’ll need to market it, which is why these 7 marketing habits will help you stay on track.
Habit #1: Make a commitment to consistency
If you want to get real results, you’ll have to put in the work. Getting sales as a result of marketing will require you to be consistent on a regular basis. In a society that values instant gratification, that’s not easy to do.
Gary Vaynerchuk once said, “everybody wants viral, but what actually works is consistent content.”
And he’s right.
In our quest to achieve viral status or increase customers ten-fold in a short period of time, we miss the mark. Vaynerchuk reminds us of this sobering fact when he adds, “Viral content by nature is viral and uncontrollable.”
When making the commitment to consistency, be it creating content or developing any other marketing strategy, it’s important to ensure the consistency of the work is high-quality.
Habit #2: Have a plan and stick to it
Most people don’t succeed unless they have some semblance of a plan. According to Social Media Examiner, the most effective marketers (66 percent of those surveyed by SME) have a documented strategy compared to 11 percent who didn’t have a plan and were among the least effective marketers.
By documenting a plan (writing it out), you are holding yourself accountable. Such a plan might include detailing the social media networks you intend to use, the kind of blog posts you want to create, and the frequency of your marketing strategy.
Habit #3: Set a goal
Setting a goal is not only realistic. It’s also essential. Without goals, most of us flounder.
What is it you want to achieve when it comes to your marketing goals? Is it to raise awareness of your brand, increase your monthly sales, or provide more value to your customers?
Whatever it is, you should align your goals with your budget and the type of business that you run.
There’s no point in aspiring to be the best plumbing company in the northeast unless you can afford to set aside a large chunk of cash for Google ads or some other marketing strategy that can reach millions.
Setting smaller goals is always best, especially for businesses that target local audiences. Commit to consistently blogging on a monthly basis and then sharing the content on your social media channels. Take a look at your analytics six months in and based on the numbers, create new, even bigger goals that will get you further down the road in your marketing and sales cycle.
Habit #4: Keep a notebook handy at all times
If you’re like me, ideas come to you at any time, while you’re out for a walk, doing the dishes, vacuuming. You name it. Our minds are always working. Don’t assume that you’ll remember them later, though.
I have gotten into the habit of keeping a spiral reporter’s notebook handy when ideas come to me randomly. Of course, writing things down is not always convenient. Make use of the technology that is available by dictating reminders into your smartphone so that you can review them later.
While some ideas may not turn into future actionable items, it’s still a good practice to maintain.
Habit #5: Organization is key
If you’re responsible for creating content for your business and all the other tasks that are involved in keeping a company running, you’ll need to be organized.
Here are some tools that will help you:
- Microsoft To-Do – an app that will help you stay organized and manage your day-to-day tasks.
- Google Docs – allows you to create and edit documents on the go, including to-do lists.
- Google Keep is good for capturing ideas with your voice. You can create, share, and collaborate with others, too. Google Keep also synchronizes across all your devices. Suffice it to say, you need a Google account to access this and Google Docs.
- Evernote – this is one of the best note-taking applications around. You can even switch from handwritten notes to typed notes and then organize them seamlessly with Evernote. You can also add files and webpages to it, as well as record a voice memo. An added plus: you don’t need a WIFI connection to access your account. Great for ideas, lists, notes, and reminders.
Habit #6: Track your results
If you’re not tracking your results, you won’t know how well you’re doing with your marketing efforts. For example, if you have a website, you should install Google Analytics to see how the site is performing in terms of traffic, the kinds of visitors you’re getting, and what pages they land on.
Tracking your results will also provide an insight into your return on investment no matter what kind of marketing strategy you use.
Habit #7: Staying true to your brand
While the look and feel of your brand should remain consistent at all times, you should also strive to be authentic, which in turn will help you to better understand your current and prospective customers.
As a business, never claim you’re something that you’re not. If you are truly authentic and upfront with your customers, it will pay off in the end.
Let me know in the comments below if you maintain any of these 7 marketing habits or if there are others that you’ve used in the past to help you run your business.