by Yoon Cannon | Marketing and Sales Blog Posts, Attract More Customers, Business Growth Tips Blog
You know you could find more customers if you could just figure out how to get in front of and network with your ideal target market. You already know how painful it is to network with a group of tire kickers or worse, people who aren’t even aware they need or want your services. So, you wonder where are the best places to find and interact with potential clients on a meaningful level?
I can help you find more of your dream customers, but it requires you to get clear on a list of preliminary questions first. This process is a lot like finding your dream home. Your realtor has access to a massive database of homes for sale on the market, but she will only show you the homes that fit the criteria of what you’re looking for.
That’s the same thing when it comes to marketing your business. Once you get clear on exactly what and who you are looking for, finding hundreds of perfect customers is as easy as a realtor entering in search criteria on her computer and hitting the print button.
Let me share with you six key questions you need to answer that will help you find your ideal target market.
#1. What are twelve things you can describe about your customer avatar?
Let’s say you are a service provider like a business coach, corporate attorney or an outsourced IT firm. It’s not enough to describe your target market as C level executives and VP’s.
That’s like asking your realtor to find you a home at the shore. You may think you’re being specific by narrowing it down to shore side homes. But, you can’t expect a real estate agent to find you the perfect shore home without giving them more details.
Even with this example, not every C level executive and VP is going to be the perfect customer for you. So, drill down on details like:
- What size is their company?
- How many employees does their company have?
- What industry are they in?
What type of company are they? (ie public, private, family run, etc)
Different size companies make buying decisions in different ways. The industries they are in will also tell you a lot of information as to what kind of marketing messages and processes they are exposed to. For example, a 5M company in the security systems business may be used to signing up for online webinars, but a 5M business in the building / contracting industry may be completely unfamiliar with what a webinar is.
- What is their exact job title? VP of what?
- How long have they worked for the company?
- What age bracket are they?
- Are they male or female?
- Are they married, single, divorced?
- Do they have kids? How many? What ages?
- What is their household income?
- What do they do in their free time?
It’s important to know these details about your customer avatar. People with grown kids or no kids are more likely to attend evening networking events; whereas those with young kids will typically choose a morning or afternoon event.
- Where do they live?
- How long is their commute?
- How do they get to work?
- How many hours a week do they work?
#2. What association groups do they belong to?
Keep in mind people belong to different types of association groups. Some are industry related where they can network among their peer group. Others join association groups so they can be visible among their own target market. A third category would be association groups that share common outcome goals like an Association group for CEO’s of family run businesses or for Legal Marketers, etc. When you look at each association group you want to find out if they have an:
- online and/or print newsletter you can advertise in?
- online and/or print publication you can write for?
- application process for guest speaking at their chapter meetings?
#3. Where do they congregate in person?
You want to be able to find a way to meet your target market where they gather in groups. Every association holds in person meetings and some even host conferences. Make a list of when and where these events are held and choose one or two to start attending.
If you want to find out more places where you target market is congregating in person just start Googling different search terms + associations.
#4. Where do they congregate online?
Online networking is a very efficient way to start to build relationships with your target market and then shortlist a sub group who you can interact with offline.
Start searching keyword phrases using different combinations of:
- job titles of your target market
- industry groups they represent
- outcome goals they are looking to achieve
If you’re targeting local then add the name of your city and county to your searches. You want to search in LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, Meetup.com and Google.
#5. What are they reading to stay sharp in their industry?
You can get this information by simply asking the question in a discussion thread once you join targeted LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, etc. You can also survey or call up your own customers to ask them what they’re reading.
Once you find out the top 5-10 publications your target market reads you can then:
- find out writers guidelines to those magazines/newspapers
- submit relevant article pitches to their columnists.
- find out their advertising rates for display ads and classified ads.
A niche journal will be a lot less expensive to advertise in that something like The Wall Street Journal. Whether you advertise or your business is featured by their columnist or you author an article, being published in their top industry magazines is a great way for your perfect customers to find you.
#6. Find more customers by what are they listening to?
When you find out that your customer avatar has a 30 minute commute to work you can bet they are listening to some type of talk radio or podcast show. Podcast shows have grown rapidly, but there are still some loyal listeners to talk radio shows.
Ask them what they’re listening to in the same discussion thread you ask what they’re reading. Then rinse and repeat what you did for step 5 and do this for step 6.
Many podcast and radio shows interview guest experts for 15 min, 30 min and even 60 minute episodes. This is an easy way for you to get exposure to a large number of targeted listeners where you can showcase your expertise.
This method, by far creates a stronger bond with your listeners than you could possibly achieve in a 30 second commercial. While there are worthwhile benefits to old school networking, hearing you talk for 30 minutes will always make a stronger impression than simply hearing your 30 second elevator pitch.
So, if you really want to find more of your ideal customers take 10 minutes right now to start answering these 6 questions. Remember, just like finding your dream home, you can find your dream customers a whole lot faster and easier when you have a detailed profile of your buyer persona.
So, now that you are more clear who your ideal target market is … the next step is to think about what marketing tactics you’ll use to get your business in front of your target market.
Be sure to grab my free printable Marketing Checklist you can download here.
QUESTION: What is your biggest challenge when it comes to finding more customers for your business? Share your comments and questions below.
by Yoon Cannon | Business Growth Tips Blog, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts
A lot of advisors today are still relying solely on traditional methods of business development — like asking clients for referrals, cold emailing and networking.
The problem is not the method, but the call to action used with the method. Often times you’re asking your network and your clients to invite their friends to book a consultation with you. It’s no wonder why the sales cycle takes so long and yields a disappointingly low response rate.
Whether you’re an attorney, CPA, coach, consultant, financial advisor, attorney or fitness expert there is an overwhelming number of other advisors in your category competing for your prospect’s attention.
So, how does one stand out among so much competition?
The key is to focus on building your reputation as the clear go to expert in your field.
When you build your expertise:
- Prospects are immediately pre sold on you before they even speak to you.
- Prospects are calling you instead of you needing to go prospecting for clients.
- You can also command higher fees when you get known as the high level expert.
Those are 3 great reasons to building your expertise isn’t it?
Yet, this marketing advice has been missed by so many advisors who end up spinning their wheels simply networking at coffees and lunches or buying more ad space. Instead of thinking about your marketing plan as “advertising” as an advisor you want to think about your overall marketing plan more like “educating.”
Keep in mind that the job of advertising is to to simply bring attention and awareness to who you are. It’s pretty difficult to build your expertise inside an half page ad space, but you can do this easily with the unlimited free space you have at your disposal with a blog.
Educating your target market is not only free, but it also serves a key role to attracting more traffic to your website.
Be generous in sharing your thought leadership, your insights, your pet peeves — your unique perspective.
Advisors who are stingy (or paranoid) about sharing your knowledge are the ones who end up being regarded as a commodity.
Here are 5 ways to implement this marketing advice, so you can leverage your advice to quickly attract new clients with ease.
1. Start blogging.
A blog is an article that is written in your voice as if you are having a personal conversation with your prospect one on one. You publish your blog on your main business website under it’s own tab labeled “blog”.
Blogging is an opportunity for you to leverage your time while reaching a much larger audience. Here are four great reasons you should start blogging:
Blogging builds equity into your marketing assets — like owning a home versus paying rent each month. When you publish your blog article, since it lives on the internet forever (unless you unpublish it) your message continues to reach new people month after month … year after year.
Blogging is also one of the easiest and fastest ways to get found on the internet by those very people who are looking for an expert like you (which is an SEO marketing advice tip!)
Blogging is also a great way to fuel your other business development tactics. If you’re using a free consultation or an “apply now” lead generation approach, you’ll see higher response rates if you first drive advertising, networking, social media updates to specific blog posts. This is an important bridge step that introduces a cold audience to you and warms them up. You’ll see a much higher response rate to your free consult or apply now invitation once you give them time to know-like-trust you through your valuable blog posts.
Blogging is an easy way to showcase your thought leadership and build your reputation as the go to expert in your field. You can even republish your blog on your LinkedIn profile as long form articles where you’ll receive even greater visibility and reach than from just your website traffic alone.
So, now that you’ve decided you will commit to blogging, what should you blog about?
2. Brainstorm a blog editorial calendar.
It can be pretty daunting to stare at a blank paper and expect to whip out a great blog article every week. So, break up your blogging process in tiny bite size pieces. First, just brainstorm a list of ideas on topics and titles you could blog about.
- What are the top 10 most frequently asked questions you hear from your prospects and clients?
- What are the top 10 myths your target market believes about your topic that you can debunk?
- What are 10 pieces of bad advice you see others giving in your industry?
- What are 10 questions your prospects SHOULD be asking you?
- What are 10 things prospects should be looking for when choosing the right (fill in the blank)?
See how quickly you can come up with your first 50 title ideas with just these thought joggers alone?
Here are 3 different examples:
If you are a CPA you could answer questions like:
- What’s the latest tax advice for maximizing cash flow and profits for small business?
- How to do a profit and loss statement for small business
- What is a general ledger?
- Pros and cons of sole proprietorship, LLC or sub S corporation
If you are a physical therapist you could answer questions like:
- How long should you rest from a sprained ankle?
- My son thinks he can tape his injured ankle and still play in the game. Is that a bad idea?
- What are the best exercises to strengthen weak ankles?
This marketing advice is not just for advisors alone. It also works for all business owners. Let’s say you own a residential / commercial painting business you could answer questions like:
- What’s the difference between latex paint and oil based paint?
- What is the best type of paint to use for exterior house painting?
- What should you do when you see bubbles on your exterior siding?
Ok, so imagine your website being full of answers and advice you give on 20 of these types of questions. I’m sure you can see how that would quickly elevate your expertise in the minds of your prospects.
By simply educating the public (which is what you do anyway when you speak to potential clients one on one) you are marketing yourself while being seen as the go-to expert in your field.
Building your expertise does take work. It won’t happen is just 5 minutes a day. However, it also does not require 5 hours a day either. After all, most of your work-week should understandably be spent in serving your clients and scaling your business!
3. Re-Purpose your blog for 5X the ROI.
Here is a great way to re-purpose one activity into multiple tactics, so you can reach more prospects through multiple channels. The gem in this marketing advice is by re-purposing your written content you are scaling your reach into audiences that the written word alone would not reach.
Speak your blogs on video. While some prospects are readers and will find your blogs while surfing the internet, other prospects are visual and will find your content while surfing YouTube. Videos are also even more effective at building relationships than the written word alone because you engage more of their senses.
Plus, your personality comes through even greater on video when you speak. Building videos does not have to be expensive. While it’s good to hire a professional videographer for some of your video marketing, you can also create lots of great video blogs right from your smartphone or webcam.
If you don’t like getting in front of a camera or you just don’t have time to shoot a video here is an example of how I converted a blog post into a video where I’m mostly sharing my slides. You can also see an example of what the audio version looks like too on this same page:
https://www.paramountbusinesscoach.com/how-to-create-high-performing-teams/
Speak your blogs on audio. A third segment of your prospects are neither readers nor have the patience to sit in front of a computer to watch videos. For people who are on the go and like to multi task my marketing advice is to reach these folks through downloadable audio mp3’s where they can listen to your advice and get educated while they are driving, walking or doing other activities.
Republish your blogs on LinkedIn as long form articles. With this tip I mentioned earlier you want to be sure you publish it first as a blog on your website, then publish it again on LinkedIn. It’s a good idea to include a note at the end of the LinkedIn version that it was originally published on your specific blog URL.
Here is an example of one of my blogs we republished as a LinkedIn long form article:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/strategic-planning-tip-staging-your-business-succeed-yoon-cannon/
Publish your blog as a SlideShare presentation. There is a 5th segment of your prospects who like getting a condensed version of your content in a Powerpoint slide deck format. You can hire inexpensive freelancers on sites like Fiverr to convert your blog into beautifully designed Powerpoint slides. Plus, since LinkedIn owns SlideShare it’s another great way to multiply your find-ability on LinkedIn.
Here is an example of what I shared on SlideShare that got 21,054 views so far!
https://www.slideshare.net/yooncannon/linked-in-tips-how-to-share-your-posts-to-multiple-linkedin-groups
4. Promote, Promote, Promote Your Blog!
Share your blogs, videos and audios on social media consistently throughout the year. Once you publish your blog people searching your topic will be able to find your article online (more so when you learn how to optimize your blogs for the right keywords), but you can drive 10X more traffic to your blog post when you promote and re-promote your content over and over throughout the year.
RELATED: How to Automate Your Blog Promotion:
https://www.paramountbusinesscoach.com/reduce-social-media-overwhelm-with-coschedule/
Social media is a great channel to share the links of each blog, video and audio on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Once users see the value you bring, you can get them to follow you and also share your content with others.
Every time you share a blog post or other types of updates on your social media your post appears in your network’s feed which is like having your ad appear (for free!) in the daily newspaper that gets delivered to everyone’s front door. You are reaching targeted people in your network as direct mail post cards would.
Except, they’ll want to read your post because it’s not an advertisement in the style of a commercial. They read your posts because you shared valuable information that educated them.
5. Convert blog readers into email subscribers.
While a some of your blog readers may contact you right away, studies show that 67% of people researching the internet are not yet actively ready to buy. But if they are reading your blog at all you want to consider them as a “warm audience”.
A great way to turn your warm audience into warm leads is to offer something of value in exchange for their email address. That way, you have the benefit of communicating with them directly to their inbox, so when they are actively looking to buy you will be top of mind since they have already been receiving valuable emails from you on a regular basis.
Blogging is just one of the key marketing tactics I recommend inside my free printable MARKETING CHECKLIST for SERVICE BASED BUSINESS OWNERS. You can download your free copy here.
If you enjoyed the marketing advice in this post please do share with other advisors and experts you know.
If you’re tired of struggling with your marketing and need help right now, I invite you to book a complimentary discovery coaching call with me here: https://www.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
PLEASE COMMENT – what is the ONE biggest paradigm shift you have now about marketing your business from reading this blog? Share your comments and questions below.
Here’s to your success!
Yoon ~
© Copyright 2021-2022
by Yoon Cannon | Business Growth Tips Blog, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts, Success Mindset
As a business owner, one of the most important things that you always need to think about is making your business profitable. Of course, an exciting goal for any entrepreneur is to double your business. Here are four tips that I have used to help me double my own business 4 years in a row. These same tips have helped many of my clients like Jack Wilson who doubled his business in just 6 months.
1. Refine your business model.
You need to have clear formula for how you will double your business. Be very clear what your business model is and exactly what numbers you need to achieve your goal. Sure, you can double your business if you simply double your fees or double the number of customers you have, but these are actually the two hardest ways to go about achieving that.
When I work with entrepreneurs on their business models, the answer typically lies in diversifying the revenue model. In essence, it’s about creating more ways at different price points for people to do business with you. Think of your business like a retail store. The more entry doors you have, the more people you can have flowing into your store.
2. Clarify what drives you
What is your single, motivating purpose behind why you do what you do? Articulate that purpose in a short, simple message you can use to remind yourself of your true calling. Every entrepreneur has the same basic needs of course, to pay the bills. But, money only fuels a short drive. If you want to double your business and create a company built to last for the long run, tap into what is the single purpose that’s driving your business. Motivation can move mountains.
3. Write down a plan
Let’s say you are an occasional runner and you decide your goal is to run in a marathon that’s coming up in 12 months. In order to transition from being hobby runner to becoming a marathon runner, most people would hire a trainer. Professional trainers would never leave your sessions without giving you a written plan for what exercises they want you to commit to doing in between sessions.
Doubling your business is no different. It’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to double your business from trying flavor of the month approach when you feel like it. Be very specific and write down your plan in advance things like:
- Which marketing tactics will you implement?
- What will your freebie offers be?
- How often will you execute?
- How much will you budget?
- What will your call to actions be?
4. Find the best support
If have never climbed a mountain before and you trek out alone, you’re bound to learn a lot of things the hard way and suffer a ton of pain in the process. If you want to go slow; go it alone.
If you want to go far; get support.
Trying to double your business is no different. Finding a mentor gives you the guidance to be well prepared. Be sure to choose a mentor who has climbed that mountain before. The right mentor can help you avoid costly, painful mistakes and help you get to the top of your business much faster!
Are you looking for expert guidance to help you grow your business faster?
Book a complimentary discovery business coaching call with me here: https://www.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
QUESTION: What is the biggest obstacle getting in the way of you doubling your business?
© Copyright 2020-2022
by Managing Editor Yoon Cannon | General, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts, Outsourcing and Hiring Tips Blog
Effective Leadership for Business Owners Can Change Lives
An effective leader knows that inspiration works better than demands, and people respond more positively to change when they understand the goal.
Demands can lead to resistance, while transparency and a sense of purpose can inspire people to follow willingly.
Anyone who has worked for a demanding boss understands the impact it can have on one’s life, both inside and outside the office.
Effective leadership for business owners who cultivate healthy and mutually respectful relationships with their people, make the work more enjoyable and fulfilling for everyone.
Confidence and Courage
For a team to be successful, its members need to have confidence in their abilities and know that they are making a positive contribution to the effort. That confidence may come from being allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, without fearing career-ending consequences.
Enabling people to spread their wings not only builds self-confidence, but the courage to take on new challenges and share their ideas. These strengths will serve them well throughout their careers. Thus creating a stronger leadership for business owners
Support and Development
A good leader will recognize the potential in others. They will see beyond the tasks on a person’s job description, provide the opportunity to develop their skills and support their career growth. In return, they will have gained a lifelong ally.
Though it’s easier to limit a person to the role you hired them for, a good leader will nurture an employee’s growth, even if it means that they might eventually move on. Interacting with people as individuals and trying to accommodate
their unique personalities and styles of communication is an essential skill for an effective leader.
They must possess the necessary people skills to handle any situation professionally. Developing effective leadership habits takes commitment. It also takes time, effort, and real-life experience. Building a leadership for business owners
will not be easy and will take perseverance.
Empower and Encourage
Mutual trust is critical within a successful team. Effective leaders demonstrate that trust by allowing people to do their jobs without micromanaging them, which encourages them to take ownership of their work and responsibility for it.
They empower people by giving them the latitude to make decisions and then trusting their judgment. Successful leaders are as transparent and honest as possible with their people and stand behind them.
Vision and Purpose
Leadership for business owners is great, but when a team that is led by someone who is committed to their life’s purpose, it can bring about positive change in both its members and society in general.
Effective leaders inspire people to share their vision and a sense of purpose. As a result, they will strive to achieve your mutual goal because they want to.
People who learn to approach their work in this way are more likely to become future leaders who will have the opportunity to bring about positive change.
Strength and Honesty
Leadership for business owners know adversity requires both strength and honesty. If a company has hit a rough patch, the employees usually know it, so telling them everything is just fine may result in a lack of trust.
If a situation is dire, an effective leader will be as honest as possible about what it could mean to the team and how leadership plans to reach a solution. Armed with the truth, people will usually help to put things right, and they’ll do it out of loyalty.
Effective leadership for business owners can make life better for those who follow them by providing opportunities to learn and grow. Showing confidence in people will help them to have more confidence in themselves and encourage them to keep striving for more knowledge and improved skills.
If people understand a leader’s vision, values and purpose, they will be more likely to follow willingly. And with a common goal, the journey can be a lot more rewarding.
Leadership for business owners skills are not always innate and may require some additional study. Whether through instructor-led courses, books or with a mentor, acquiring these skills is an important part of effective leadership. The tools are available. It just takes some practice and commitment.
by Yoon Cannon | General, Build Your Dream Team, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts, Outsourcing and Hiring Tips Blog
Sigh! It can be incredibly frustrating to feel like the vision you have for your business is moving excruciatingly slow.
You have zillions of brilliant marketing strategies. The problem is there is never enough time in your day to execute or manage it all, especially without a marketing team.
I have found the biggest cause is from something called the Marketing Strategy Execution Gap. You need more soldiers on the ground to deploy multiple marketing strategies to free you up to shine as Chief Visionary. You need a marketing team.
You probably already tried outsourcing to a marketing agency only to be disappointed with the results. According to digital.com, 76% percent of small business owners report facing marketing challenges.
The core challenges of marketing fall into these 5 areas:
- Generating traffic and leads
- Training your team to generate traffic and leads
- Lack of resources (budget / people / time)
- Hiring talented people
- Social media
I mean, starting a business is hard enough. Can’t these leads just come to you? You have a great business idea, right? You should be overwhelmed with leads, right?
Wishful thinking.
After All, There are amazing musicians who, based on their genius of talent, should be worldwide superstars. But instead, they starve and struggle for decades because they were never ‘discovered’ by record labels who can market the heck out of them.
Your genius business idea is no different. Doing all the marketing yourself should no longer be an option.
As the visionary, how will you close that ‘Marketing Strategy Execution Gap’?
- Option 1: Outsource your marketing to a bunch of freelancers or to a marketing agency.
- Option 2: Hire your own in-house marketing team.
Which is better for you? …
Hear From 11 Entrepreneurs On Outsourcing or Hiring In-House Marketing Team
I’ve rounded up 10 small business entrepreneurs to weigh in with their opinion on this decision. Find out the pros and cons they have experienced with outsourcing vs hiring an in house marketing team. At the end I will also share my own experience from everything I have tried over 26 years of being an entrepreneur to help you make a more informed decision for yourself.
- When you know it’s time to outsource your marketing
Kymberlie Dimoz, CEO Of Lighting Rod Agency
Kymberlie Dimoz shares “outsourcing is perfect when your business is making a healthy profit margin but you haven’t quite yet realised your potential..”
- Benefits outsourcing your marketing can offer.
Ambroise de La Gorce, CEO/Founder Of Openinno
Ambroise de La Gorce, CEO/Founder Of Openinno shares, “Outsourcing and in-house marketing both have their pros and cons. Each option can be better than the other in different situations depending on numerous factors, including type of management, marketing tools used, sprints management, business stage.
In my opinion, outsourcing at the very beginning of the business can offer more flexibility. Recruiting in-house is necessary when the product/market fit is validated, to give more stability to the business. Then outsourcing 20% of the team or so when scaling the business can be interesting to gather the resources we can hardly find on-site.”
- Advice on hiring in-house marketers.
Kerry Maybank Owner Of Strategic Links
Kerry Maybank shares, “I mostly do my own marketing, but I have team members that are great at marketing and create more of the significant pitch documents for us. I also have gotten free advertising by doing interviews with the media.
My company does not have employees. We have team members. People come onboard with exceptional talents in particular areas of the business that significant interest at the time. Sometimes we provide equity if the need is that great or we barter and provide their companies something in return based on our expertise. It keeps costs down, and creates mutually beneficial relationships, while increasing the exposure of our firm.”
- Why we hire in-house marketers.
David Murumbi Founder Of Rafiki Digi
David Shares, “We keep our marketing in-house because it allows us to harness our own data and learn to understand how our customers interact with our business. Combining marketing customer data, building segments, and then activating those segments in your communication is something that really draws growth.”
- Hiring in-house marketing employees is a lot to manage.
Peter Rigas Founder Of Fini Cutlery
Peter Shares, “You need both. You need in house because no matter how much you pay an outside agency or group of freelancers, no one will care about your business or know your products/services better than you and your staff. However, there is so much to manage and oversee that you need outside agencies that specialize in the various verticals.
- How we balance both outsourcing and in-house marketing team
Mark Walerysiak Jr. Founder Of Giverrang
Mark Walerysiak Jr. shares, “I’m early stage, and do all the marketing myself (at the moment). I could see the benefit of outsourcing particular tasks related to content / SEO. The more weedy stuff. But when it comes to telling compelling on-brand stories I would prefer to have someone inside the team and as close to the product as I am. When you eat, sleep, and breathe a product (and not worrying about other clients), you can communicate much more passionately about it in just about any form, and I think the audience can pick up on that. So the preference would be in-house if it’s doable.”
- Don’t try to do all your marketing in house
Laurie Kessler CEO Of The Celebrity Source
Laurie shares, “Our marketing needs are managed with both internal and external resources. Our internal team has a great deal of experience in marketing and PR – so we can typically tap into our own knowledge and experience for basic initiatives like drafting corporate communications and pitches, social media posts, email marketing, etc.
We outsource for marketing tactics outside of our areas of expertise, or if our bandwidth is tight – such as more complex social media campaigns, SEO and digital advertising.
- Get help creating your brand
Gary J. Nix Founder Of Brandarchist
Gary Shares, “I’ve always done my marketing in-house. I’ve only worked in or ran marketing companies, so outsourcing my marketing would be really weird, lol.The one piece of advice I would give entrepreneurs that feel weary about or otherwise unable to fully carry out marketing duties, still be involved. As a consultant, part of my job is to learn as much about my client’s brand as possible because the person or people leading the business know the most about their brand. I can help a client focus. I can help a client develop. However, no one can create someone else’s brand on their own.”
- Consider if you can handle doing all your own marketing.
Staci Schweitzer Founder Of Blue Moss
Staci shares, “As a new one-woman consultancy, I’m doing it all right now — marketing and business development as well as everything else involved in the business!
Honestly, while that requires more time and effort from me, I think it actually helps build trust and is part of my business values. With me, it’s personal, and my clients know that they can trust Blue Moss for personal dedication and utmost quality.
- We do all the outreach to prospects.
Keith Kirkpatrick Principal & Founder of 4K Research & Consulting
Keith shares “I generally do not outsource marketing, as I find it easier to directly reach out to potential clients. Additionally, much of my work comes through referrals, anyway.”
- Just because you know how to do marketing, doesn’t mean you should all be done by you..
Yoon Cannon Founder, Paramount Business Coach Host, Biz Growth Doctors Show
I have done all three options throughout my 26 year journey owning 4 different businesses. I once did all the marketing myself. But I quickly found that not to be the best use of my time as the Chief Visionary and Strategist. Just because I know how to do the marketing, doesn’t mean I should be the primary person executing it all. So, then I spent many years outsourcing to freelancers.
While it’s a good choice for one time projects, the danger is you end up spending way too much time vetting and project managing freelancers, which prevents you from acting as the Chief Visionary and Strategist. The other common pitfall with outsourcing is the temptation to hire the lowest priced freelancer. Like with anything else … you get what you pay for.
You risk super sloppy mistakes and oversights that cost you your brand’s reputation. Here’s an example a realtor friend of mine forwarded me. She subscribed to be on an email list from a marketing provider in her industry … to her surprise here’s what the email read:
My realtor friend was so confused! …. Here she thought she was signing up to let this marketing company do her social media posts and email marketing for her. Instead of getting info about the done for you marketing services she was expecting, an email template and an email from a weight loss company came instead. Certainly people do make mistakes. But, when you outsource to the cheapest provider, sloppy mistakes just seem to occur in high frequency.
Marketing is not a mindless task any monkey can do.
When I exhausted my patience for chronic sloppy mistakes from outsourced VA’s and freelancers I decided to let go the reigns and hired a marketing agency to take care of it all A-Z. I hoped outsourcing the majority of my marketing to an agency would remove the project managing off my plate.
I hired Several different agencies, but in each experience I didn’t see the ROI to renew. Instead, I discovered the project managers who were assigned to me were skilled at project managing (which is a good thing), but so many critical details got missed because they weren’t skilled enough in all things marketing. [CONTEXT] There are many great marketing agencies out there who have highly skilled marketers as project managers, but these agencies are often geared to Enterprise size clients, not so much for the SMB community.
What I do now, and my advice to other SMB’s (small-medium business owners) is the 70-20-10 mix.
- 70% of our core marketing is done in-house
- 20% is outsourced (one time projects or a specialty area we don’t have in house yet)
- 10% still is done by me (like recording videos, giving interviews)
I finally found the key to taking project managing off your plate as a small business owner is to make sure the project manager is a well-trained Full Stack Marketer.
Conclusion
Ok … there you have it. You just heard from 11 of us about our experiences and opinions on whether it’s better to outsource your marketing or hire your own in-house marketing team.
Whether you decide to outsource or hire in house, the next set of decisions you’ll need to make are things like:
- Who should you hire first?
- What’s the going rate for this and that?
- What is the best marketing strategy they should be implementing for your business?
- Where can you go to find marketers who know what they’re doing?
- What should you look for when hiring your marketing person/team?
My answer to all of the above questions is this:
It depends.
I would answer all of these questions differently depending on each unique business owner, bandwidth, budget and brand. If you want to get clarity on best way for you to eliminate the marketing strategy execution gap in your business why not take me up on my free offer? For a limited time, I am offering a FREE 45 Minute Strategy Call to help you work through this.
FREE THE WIZARD
Click the link below and Eliminate Your Marketing Strategy Execution Gap!
QUESTION: What other questions would you add to the list of 5 above? Share your comments and questions below.
by Yoon Cannon | Marketing and Sales Blog Posts, Business Growth Tips Blog
9 Reasons Why Your Print Ads Aren’t Generating More Leads and How to Fix It
If you want to attract more customers to your local business, having print advertising tips should be a foundational part of your marketing mix. Print Advertising serves to increase awareness, visibility, and mindshare; particularly, if you’re trying to attract more local customers to your business.
I started running print advertising in 1992 with my first business in the direct sales industry. Since then, I continued to run many different types of ads to promote three other local businesses that I started from ground zero, turn-keyed, and later sold. That means for over two decades, I have tested, measured and tested again to figure out the formula for what makes some print advertising get a higher response than others.
Whether it’s advertising in magazines, newspapers, direct mail, radio, or billboards, the first key lesson I learned quickly is this; you just can’t throw an ad together on a whim, let that same ad run for a year to then evaluate if advertising works for your business or not.
So, unless you’ve hired an experienced, competent marketing manager who is trained in direct response copywriting, advertising, media buying and marketing for your specific industry, then as the owner of your business, it’s your job to keep testing and improving your ad copy, design, layout and offers.
Once you learn how to do this, you can test and improve your ads in less than 20 minutes a week. Keep in mind, however, that advertising works on repetition.
If your ad has only been published a few times in the same publication, that is way too early to determine if advertising is working or not working for you. But, in the meantime, make sure you avoid making these 9 classic print advertising mistakes
#1. The headline does not speak to what they care about.
Remember that no one opens the publication to sit and read ads. The headline in your ad needs to grab their attention and get them interested in skimming the rest of your ad. Some ads I find don’t even have a headline at all. Often, you’ll see ads that have the name of their business at the top where the headline should actually go.
While some people may still read your ad, I find you end up getting a lot more people to notice and remember your ad when you use a curiosity or benefit-driven headline.
#2. The ad copy ONLY tells them what you do.
Let’s say you’re a landscaping business and your ad copy simply says:
(Picture) | Joe’s Landscaping Hardscape; Landscape Design and Installation Property Maintenance
Address … Website … Phone Number |
You have to keep in mind that your prospects will see numerous other ads from 47 other landscaping businesses that do exactly what you do. Often, some of your competitors will be print advertising in the same publication you’re in. Your ad should tell them what makes your business stand out from the rest in just a few words.
#3. The design layout focuses the eye on the wrong thing.
Take the 2-second test. What is the first thing you notice when you glance at your ad in 2 seconds? Show your ad to 10 people and ask them the same question if the first thing people notice isn’t the headline or an attention-grabbing photo your design layout is bringing attention to the wrong thing.
#4. The text in the ad is not easy to read.
Remove anything in your ad that makes your reader strain to read or look at your ad. Blue text over a dark grey photo is not easy to read. A lot of font styles are tough to read. Sometimes a graphic designer might try a shadow effect on the font, but it will hurt your ad if it makes the text too hard to read.
#5. There’s too much text.
Remember, an ad is not an article. People don’t read ads they skim. Trying to get them to read too much makes them read nothing at all. And of course, the smaller the ad size you buy, the less space you have for text.
#6. Your services are not specific enough.
When you buy a bigger ad size, you have more room to share more information about your business. This is a great opportunity to outline some of your popular services, but you need to be more descriptive.
Whether you’re a caterer, a relationship coach, or an elder law attorney, be more specific in what services you offer. You may think “catering for all occasions” is specific, but you’ll trigger more reasons to call your business if you specified things like:
- 40th, 50th, 60th+ Birthday Parties
- Baby Showers
- Backyard BBQ’s, Picnics
- Cocktail Parties, Holiday Parties
- Graduations
- Weddings
#7. Poor choice of images.
A great image can grab attention, boost your brand and support the core message you’re trying to convey in your ad. However, choosing the wrong image can really plummet an ad’s effectiveness.
Choose a photo of something your reader cares about, sells your work, and/or grabs their attention. I hate to break this to you if you’re in the trade business, but a picture of your company work van does not make the list of something your reader cares about.
#8. You’re selling the wrong thing.
Remember, in print advertising people are driven more by emotions than they are by product messages. If you sell pool tables, you’ll get a greater response if you change your headline from “we sell pool tables” to promoting an emotional driver like:
“making family game night a tradition” or
“every man needs a man-cave.”
#9. There’s no call to action in your ad.
Simply saying call now with your phone number is not really an effective call to action. The best call to actions (CTA’s) are geared to generate leads of potentially interested prospects rather than a CTA to buy now or hire you now.
Brainstorm different calls to action you can promote each month in your print advertising. Can you host a workshop, a social, an open house, a special event at your place of business? Offering a free lead magnet is also a great call to action to include in your ad.
Ok, so there you have it. I just shared the 9 most common mistakes I see small business owners making in your print advertising. I want to help you take action on what you just learned, so I created a free template you can use to help you avoid these print advertising mistakes and start generating more leads from your local business..
If you need help coming up with your wow factor message that’s laid out by professional graphic designers, book a complimentary discovery call to see how we can help you.
SIGN UP HERE: https://www.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
QUESTION: What question can I answer for you about advertising your business? Please share your comments or questions below:
ABOUT YOON CANNON, Founder, ParamountBusinessCoach.com My mission is to encourage, equip and empower entrepreneurs to help you grow a thriving business and life you love! For the past 25+ years I have started 6 different businesses and sold 3 of them (both B2C and B2B), so I completely understand the struggles you go through whether you’re starting from zero or growing a 6 and 7 figure business. I invite you to book a free sales growth strategy call with me below. https://www.paramountbusinesscoach.com/coaching/coaching-call-sign-up/
© Copyright 2020-2022
Page 5 of 17« First«...34567...10...»Last » 
