MARKET YOUR EXPERTISE
Why Your Online Business NEEDS a Marketing Strategy
by Mel Fee
THE BLOG
Our online business tips
Hey, I’m Mel Fee
Brand and Marketing Strategist
for female entrepreneurs
Last month I read a comment thread in a Facebook group and a female entrepreneur wrote – I quote – ‘I’m just a solopreneur with a small online business, I don’t have money and time for Marketing’
Hmmm okay girl, so you’re saying on one hand that your business is small, meaning you don’t have many (or high ticket) clients, but on the other hand you say you’re not investing towards attracting more of them…
Sounds a bit like nonsense doesn’t it?
Newsflash: It is.
If like Virginia you’re not putting any efforts into your Marketing, how else would you expect to find new clients and nurture existing ones? How are they going to ‘find’ you?
In reality, it’s because you have a small business that Marketing can make such a big difference on your bottom line. And there is no point having the best digital product or service in the world if no-one knows about it right?
You have to both brand AND market yourself to grow your online business. Let’s see below what Marketing is, and how to use a marketing strategy to grow your online business.
What is Marketing?
There are a lot of misconceptions around Marketing. Eight out of ten people would define marketing as sales or advertising. Advertising is a part of Marketing whereas sales is, well, sales.
Let me tell you about a guy I knew a few years back.
He told me how he had fallen in love with a girl he met at a friend’s party (remember these pre-covid days?). Love at first sight he said. HUGE crush.
He asked her out on a coffee date and lucky him, she said YES! They exchanged a few messages before meeting up and as their first date went well, they kept texting and he invited her to dinner the following week.
The thing here is, EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW he liked the girl from the first second he saw her, he did not ask her to marry him THERE and THEN.
That would just be creepy (eeeeek).
So why are solopreneurs doing just that? As soon as they have managed to catch someone’s attention on social media, they invite them to their website for their first ‘encounter’ and straight away push for a sale.
Asking your cold prospect to buy from you when they barely know you is the business equivalent of introducing yourself to someone you fancy at a bar and straight away bringing up marriage. Don’t do it. Just don’t.
Instead, this guy kept the communication flowing and organised dates crescendo so she got to know him better (and for anyone interested they did end up getting married, awwww).
So think of it this way, marketing is used to attract ideal clients to your business, communicate WHY and HOW you can benefit them, and to nurture a mutual relationship with them so you can be profitable.
Sales is the act of CONVERTING the qualified leads you got from marketing into actual, paying customers.
If you only focus on bringing in new customers or closing sales and not nurturing the relationship, they will leave as quickly as they came. Give your customers a reason to come back and engage with your brand, taking into account what stage in the relationship they are at. Give them an incredible client experience that knocks their socks off and get them excited to buy from you.
What is Marketing Strategy?
In the story I told you above, you can see there was a clear process. The guy was INTENTIONAL about seducing the girl. How can you be intentional to attract new clients and nurture existing clients relationships? This is when Marketing strategy plays a part.
A marketing strategy is a document that should align with your business objectives. It is different from a Marketing plan.
Your marketing strategy explains how your marketing goals will support your business goals. It is the reason ‘why’ behind your marketing efforts.
Let’s say one of your business goals is to increase your revenue by 30% by 15th December next year, what marketing strategy will you set to achieve that?
Your marketing strategy should highlight a few elements including:
- Market situation: internal and external forces affecting your market and your business
- Target audience: Specific details about who you want to serve, a profile of who your ideal client is.
- Competition analysis: This includes comparison/differentiation
- Marketing message : message that can persuade your audience to buy from you
- Your Services : what you will deliver to your clients, how you will deliver them, their features and benefits for your target customer
- Channels: where you will be selling your packages and what the customer journey is for each
Building a marketing strategy allows you to define WHY your are doing marketing efforts, WHO you will target and compete against, WHAT services/digital products you will offer to your clients with what message and what channel.
Establishing your marketing strategy early on is essential and it needs to be done before you go online and start taking any action. You can learn more about how to turn your marketing strategy into action in the article, marketing plan.
If you haven’t put together a solid marketing strategy for your business yet, this is something I work together on with my clients as part of my 1:1 Mighty Brand coaching program. If you have any question, feel free to reach out on hello@themightybunch.com and let’s create your brand and marketing strategy!
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