Fortune Marketing just passed it’s 8th Anniversary!
[thanks to LinkedIn for the reminder :-)]
First – a HUGE Thank You to the Clients and Partners who have enabled me to stay self-employed lo these 8+ years…
And, a few thoughts on what has (and has not) changed the most in Small Business Marketing:
What has not changed
- Marketing is still a matter of getting someone who has a problem you solve to Know, Like, and Trust you (Thank You to Duct Tape Marketing for this definition). How you do it changes, but the principle does not.
- Strategy before Tactics
- Everyone with a pulse is not a target market.
- Without a roadmap for growth, you won’t get there
What has changed the most – lotsa tactical stuff
- How social media exposure works
- 8 years ago, just posting content regularly would get you a fair number of views – that’s no longer true.
- If you do not put some real thought behind the content you post, and some money behind ensuring it is seen by your target audience, you’re wasting your time
- How much Google wants to keep searchers in their universe – not yours
- Ok, this probably isn’t a change, but it’s never been clearer that Google has every incentive to keep searchers on the search results page and NOT clicking through to your website (unless they’re clicking an ad you’re paying Google for)
- But there’s still a lot of room for improvement in how you use what Google gives you to your advantage
- Shiny Object Syndrome explosion
- There is a sustained “explosion” of marketing channels and folks who are experts in every channel out there
- It is harder than ever for a small business owner to know what the correct path is for their marketing plan as they’re getting bombarded with options daily
So, what is a small business owner to do?
It is as important as ever for small business owners to:
- Understand your target market and how your business solves their problems
- Understand your cost to acquire (and retain) customers
- Do what it takes to move target customers to “owned” platforms to build ongoing relationships – your website, your store, your email list – and generally off “rented” platforms (search engines, social media sites) where the rules of access change quickly (and not to your advantage)
Doing this enables valuable engagement and connection to build a profitable and lasting customer relationship.
If you’d like to discuss more, just schedule a call.
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash