We Get It.

Business owners and even full time marketing managers face an unprecedented number of options for connecting with existing and potential clients. The fear of missing out (FOMO) drives many to feel like they must pursue every avenue for marketing. It can be exhausting, overwhelming, and make it difficult to track what is working and where our time is going.

The Good News

You don’t have to do it all. We can help you narrow down and prioritize the marketing investments that will have the most impact for your specific business offerings and clientele. This starts by taking an inventory of what you currently do.

Perform an Audit

  • Make a list of every activity intended to help you get clients.

  • Rank the investment of time and effort that each takes from you to complete. If you don’t track your time, estimate using generics like high / medium / low.

  • Specify the hard costs of participation (dollars invested on advertising, membership fees, artwork creation, clicks, etc).

Identify The Winners

  • Which activities give you the most joy? Do you thrive on meeting new people at events? Are you a desk jockey that prefers writing copy and creating visuals?

  • Which results in the most sales?

    If you’re not tracking leads and sales by source, you should make this your absolute top priority in marketing!

  • Where did you find your best customers? The ones that give you repeat business, minimal headaches, and value your products and service.

Identify The Losers

  • Which activities do you dislike the most?

    If it’s the work itself you don’t like doing, but the value is measurable and real, it’s time to either automate or delegate.

  • Which activities invite “tire kickers,” or time wasters?

    We’ve all had them. The person who eats your time without committing. Some activities or events seem to draw in more than others. It can be a trap: initially it feels like you’ve succeed in generating opportunities, but ultimately you’ve lost the opportunity to spend time on more value-generating activities.

Find What’s Missing

Even for career marketers, there is value in outside perspectives. Consume knowledge, ask peers, and seek professional opinions from consultants.

  • Which tools are underutilized? We often hear businesses say they’re aware of or already have access to tools, but they haven’t had time to learn to use them, set them up, or keep them current.

  • What ways can you build more business from your existing customers?

  • Which things have customers requested that you don’t offer? Is there an opportunity to expand your products and services? Or to find a referral partner?

Let Go

Acknowledge when it’s time to let go of an activity that you enjoy but doesn’t bring a return. Or, something you’ve done “because everyone does it.” Consider the opportunity cost of continuing to do the work at the expense of something that gets you noticed in a way that results in actionable leads from customers that are ready to buy.

Develop, Document, and Adapt a Plan

Have a strategy? Is it documented? Is it in a central location? Are users empowered to edit it?

Taking the time to have a clear marketing and sales protocol, training your team, and inviting them to suggest and take charge of change is vital to an ever-changing industry.

Some people view protocols as restricting. That usually means that the protocol isn’t being fully optimized. Protocols should be freeing you from time-wasters by creating a map for success. However, they should never be static. The business world changes too quickly, and effective protocols should be updated as new, better ways of doing things are discovered.

Still Overwhelmed?

We can help. We understand that competing interests and staying on top of your day-to-day management needs can make it challenging to take a time out to develop or update strategy. Let’s talk!