Asking More Hard Questions, How To Resolve Your Marketing Dilemma

Many small business owners find themselves torn between working “on” their businesses or “in” their businesses.

And more often than not, especially when you’re a 1-2 person shop, working in your business wins, hands down, leaving little time to do other things that’ll help grow your business, like marketing.

But there are some who’ve found remnants of time lurking in their Google calendars. And in those unfilled blocks of silence, you’ve posted and shared, emailed and followed, only to be rewarded with less than stellar results and more than your share of frustrations.

Feeling defeated, you consider giving up.

The dilemma  

Whether or not you should be marketing isn’t the question. You know the answer to that.

The real question is “how” you should market your business. Marketing isn’t an exact science. What works for one, may not work for another.

Going through the motions isn’t enough. There has to be a connection to the business side of things for your marketing to work.

Ask more hard questions

So a couple weeks ago, we tackled some tough questions. We learned the importance of being clear about the value your business offers and who you’re offering that value to. We also learned the importance of using a marketing plan to communicate that value.

But to resolve the marketing dilemma, you have to look at your marketing from beginning to end. So try answering these questions:

What’s your content marketing strategy? Content marketing is more than just putting a few blogs out there. That’s just content and there’s millions of pieces of it being created and shared every day.

Effective content marketing is when you intentionally create content that people can use to solve their problem, and then gives them an opportunity to create a profitable response, like making a purchase.

The cornerstone of content marketing is value. So you’ll need to keep these three things in mind when creating your strategy:

• how you’ll create that value
• how you’ll deliver that value to your audience in a way that’s relevant to them
• how you can convert that value into meaningful interactions that lead to a sale down the road

Are you monitoring the right things? Unarguably, increasing reach ­- as is reflected in metrics like number of likes, views, and impressions – is important.

But asking your audience for a relationship, or some form of commitment, has an even bigger payoff. Lead nurturing enables you to drip messages onto your audience without the pressure of buying right now. So encourage them to sign up for your emails and fill out forms.

With the info you capture, monitor the actions they take to help you learn their behaviors and determine their needs and wants. Use what you’ve learned to create content that meets them where they are in real-time.

Are you prepared to make changes? Admitting that your marketing isn’t working is a hard pill to swallow, especially after you’ve sunk so much time and effort into it.

But admitting it gets you one step closer to fixing it. And the way you fix it may be to scale back or to hire it out to someone who can commit the 50-75 hours it can take to manage your online marketing effectively.

Whichever you choose, just know that your willingness to act is key.

Pull it together

The best marketing for your business is the marketing that you can manage. Getting over your head is unsustainable and not working hard enough is a waste of time.

Your marketing strategy should align with your business goals and support your value proposition. And that means knowing exactly who you want to target, the message you want them to get, and the action you want them to take.

If what you’re doing isn’t working, get some help; take the free marketing classes offered in your area or hire a pro.

One thing is for certain, the only way you’ll be able to determine your next steps, is by asking the hard questions.