Steal These Marketing Tips To Achieve Marketing Success

Picture it with me - you’re feeling so overwhelmed by all the marketing tips and options out there. You don’t know where to even begin with focusing your energy and time. Flying blind as they say! Finally, you choose one of the pieces of advice you’ve found out of the thousands of ideas out there. It sits well with you, so you put it into action. You’re feeling good, feeling proud as punch. You’ve got this…

But wait - now you saw something that says you should be doing something else...get a Facebook Group, invest in SEO research, use Google Adwords, learn how to make Instagram ads...argh! Seriously?! What do you do now?

Well, I’m here to assure you that there is a way to peel back the layers of marketing confusion. You can gain clarity on the best marketing tips, strategies and tactics and you can reach your goals. As a proud marketing geek, I’m giving you my best foundational tips so you can achieve strong marketing results in your business. 

Block Out The Noisy Marketing Tips

Ok, I admit that the internet is a wonderful source for information. In fact, we can all agree that there is pretty much never a shortage of information. Plus, there is plenty of marketing tips and advice available that means well, and that truly wants to help. 

BUT there is always the possibility that the internet can cause a lot of confusion, leading to the birth of doubt. Have you ever asked yourself - am I doing this right? - or does - what if I’m doing this wrong? - sound familiar? We’ve all been there! It can feel overwhelming and become difficult to sift through the crowded marketing space to find the gem you’ve been looking for.

The truth is that you have to trust your instinct. 

If you’re feeling confused and teetering on the fence between a few options, here are two things you can think of that will instantly help. (1) Take the advice that you not only feel will work for you and your target audience, but also (2) take the advice that will be achievable to implement and maintain. 

Then, forget the rest.

This way, things won’t get too complicated. You can simplify the process to make it easier to achieve at your own pace. Everyone’s journey is different.  What you don’t want is to feel so overwhelmed that you do nothing.

“The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.” - Seth Godin

Get Clear On Your Marketing Goals

So, what exactly is it that you want to achieve from marketing? 

You should have ONE clear goal for each marketing strategy you implement.  One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make with setting marketing goals is they look something like this -  making sales AND getting my name out there AND brand awareness AND something else… Instead of multiple objectives, try setting just one and consider using the SMART Goal Framework:

Here is what a SMART goal could look like - Increase Facebook likes by 5% in 2 months - or - Spend 30-minutes networking online every day for 1 month - or - Gain 100 subscribers by the end of the month.

Setting SMART goals helps make you super clear on what activities and tactics you need to implement. When you’ve got clarity, things won’t seem as muddled.

Review Your Marketing Toolkit

Just like a builder has a toolbox and a hairdresser has a trolley, every business owner needs to have their own Marketing Toolkit. Why? Because it will help to identify where your gaps are or what you have that can potentially be optimised.

What Marketing Assets Do You Have?

Marketing assets?! I hear you ask? Well, there’s no need to worry. You’ve probably got much more marketing assets than you realise. All of the following things can be utilised as marketing resources:

• Logo
• Website
• Blog
• LinkedIn Profile
• Facebook Page
• Email Marketing
• Lead Magnets

Think of them as your own library of resources, where each one can have a significant impact. The important thing is to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can properly manage each one. Perhaps your website is a little overdue for an update?  Or your subscribers haven’t received an email from you in a few months?

What Marketing Tactics Are You Currently Doing?

Firstly, let me explain what I mean by ‘tactics’... a strategy is the big-picture planning of what you’re going to do to achieve your marketing goal, whereas the tactic is all the bits and pieces your do to make your strategy to come together.  Let’s see what all of that could look like.

Goal - Gain 5 new clients in 1 month.

Strategy - Run a Facebook Ad to send users to your landing page to opt-in to a for a quick-win freebie.

Tactics - Identity audiences for Facebook Ad, write compelling copy for Facebook Ad, build a landing page, create email nurture sequence, offer a free discovery call, convert to a customer.

Perhaps you haven’t started doing any marketing tactics...or maybe you’re actually doing more than you realise!  A great idea is to thoroughly examine where your time and energy is going. Then, perhaps consider where it probably should be heading instead. When you look at your tactics in a fresh new light, you can then optimise them to achieve marketing success. 

Some marketing tactic ideas to get you started include:

• Website Banners
• Guest Blogging
• Business Cards
• Email Newsletters
• Free Consultations
• Social Media
• Surveys

I truly must emphasise that you shouldn’t feel discouraged if you’re not doing any of the above. Think of it instead as you’re taking everything step by step, and you shouldn’t feel rushed. Simply by stopping and thinking about your marketing toolkit, you’re already miles ahead of most small businesses. 

It is important to remember, though, that more marketing assets or tactics does not mean more or better results. Sometimes honing in on something that’s working for you can be the best decision you can make. When you’re reviewing your marketing assets and tactics, you can easily identify what is and isn’t working well for your business. Then, you can focus on optimising what is getting the results you want. 

Apply These Marketing Tips For Success

Now, take some time to apply these marketing tips and what you’ve learnt from above.

What are your marketing goals, strategies and tactics? Are there any gaps in your Marketing Toolkit? Or, in other words, are there any books missing from your library? Which tools need to be thrown out, replaced, or given a good clean. This is your chance to get some clarity on every part of the marketing side of your business, so nothing has the opportunity to confuse you.

Need a little more inspiration?

On A Final Note

Marketing doesn’t need to be complicated or extra fancy, and you don’t need the same marketing budget as the ‘big guys’.  As I said at the top, everyone’s marketing journey is different. You can achieve your marketing success at your own pace and in a way that’s practical for your business and its current position. 

Visualising your marketing simplified? You’re closer than you may think.  You’ve got this!  If you would like someone to join you on your journey, have a look around my website to learn more about me, what I do and how we can work together.