The 4 Keys to Building a Successful Small Business| Priority Pursuit Podcast
Kelly Rice and Victoria Rayburn break down the five reasons your small business needs a marketing strategy,
Episode 149: 5 Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Marketing Strategy
June 18, 2024
Kelly Rice, fractional CMO from Treefrog Marketing, talking with client Title: Fractional CMO vs. Full-Time CMO: Which Is Right for Your Small Business?
Fractional CMO vs. Full-Time CMO: Which Is Right for Your Small Business?
July 1, 2024

June 25, 2024

Episode 150: The 4 Keys to Building a Successful Small Business


Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher


A common question we’re asked at Treefrog all the time is, “How do you build a successful business?” 

It’s a great question—and one that doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer. However, after years of experience—both as small business owners ourselves and through working with countless small businesses—Kelly and Victoria have identified four crucial keys to building a successful small business that is profitable and sustainable.

1. Offering a quality product or service that solves a problem.

The first key to building a successful small business is offering a quality product or service that solves a problem. 

Quality

This goes without saying, but if the quality of your product or service is poor or isn’t aligned with what you’re charging, you’re going to have unhappy customers. And, these irritated customers will likely leave negative reviews and tell their friends and family about their bad experience, which is only going to diminish your brand reputation. 

So, whether you sell a physical or digital product, or you offer a service, make sure you’re providing quality work that reflects what you charge. 

Solution to a Problem

Second, your offer needs to solve a problem. This might also sound obvious, but this is something people often overlook. 

So many small business owners start businesses because they’re experts in something or passionate about something. As a result, they get caught up in the details of what they offer and fail to think about the true pain point that they are solving for their ideal customers. People don’t buy things just to buy them. They spend money to solve problems. 

Now, that problem can be an issue that truly needs to be addressed, like the foundation of your house is caving in and you need a contractor to fix it. Or, the problem can be more emotional or feelings-based. For example, people often make buying decisions to boost their esteem or to feel like they belong. 

Consider Stanley water bottles. There are cheaper water bottles out there, but people are willing to pay $40+ for a cup with a straw because they want to feel included—and it all happens subconsciously.
  

Focus on Ideal Customers

Basically, if your offer doesn’t solve a problem for your ideal customers, you cannot expect your business to be successful. 

For example, TIDAL is a music streaming service that was launched by Jay-Z in 2015 with the intention of giving musicians higher payouts. 

While musicians were on board with this, TIDAL’s “ideal” audience was not. You see, the subscription cost for TIDAL in 2015 was about $20 a month, and the platform didn’t offer any free options. Spotify, on the other hand, had a free option with ads, and their premium subscription was only $10 a month. 

With TIDAL, music listeners were going to pay more to hear the same music that they could hear for free or at half the cost on another platform. 

So, basically, Jay-Z’s company didn’t solve a problem for his customers; it solved a problem for musicians. And, as a result, the company—which does still exist with a very different brand position—really struggled initially and is still by no means one of the top music streaming platforms. 

Importance of Messaging

TIDAL’s initial struggle was likely due to a combination of a failure to solve a problem and its disjointed messaging. 

When the company launched, so much of its messaging highlighted why artists should exclusively stream their music on TIDAL, but the company didn’t really have much messaging for its users. 

This is why creating clear messaging that makes your customer the hero of the story is so important. If TIDAL’s messaging had been more along the lines of, “Support your favorite artists by using our streaming service,” it may have been more successful. 

If you’ve yet to clarify your messaging by writing your Marketing Guiding Statements, we want to encourage you to take our free mini course, which breaks down exactly how to write your Marketing Guiding Statements.

2. Providing an excellent client experience.

In addition to offering a quality product or service that solves a problem, the next key to building a successful business is providing an excellent client experience. 

Now, we’re going to say something that you may not want to hear. And, that is that the quality of the client experience you offer matters far more than the quality of your products or services. 

This is NOT to say that the quality of your offer doesn’t matter. We just spent a whole section talking about the importance of quality and problem-solving, after all. However, the customer experience you provide matters even more. 

This can be hard to hear when you take a lot of pride in your work. When Victoria was a wedding photographer, she wanted her images to speak for themselves and for people to book her because they loved her photos. 

However, here’s the thing. The average person doesn’t know what makes a great photo. Prospects were never going to look at her images and think, “Whoa. I bet that harsh light was hard to shoot in. Victoria did an amazing job,” or, “I so appreciate how Victoria used lead lines and framed the couple in these images. She has to be our wedding photographer.” 

And, like her clients were never truly going to understand the quality of her photos, your clients—regardless of what your small business does or sells—likely won’t ever truly understand all of the intricacies that go into your work. 

In fact, if you did a side-by-side of your and your competitors’ work, there’s a good chance that your clients wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference—even if your work is superior—simply because your customers aren’t experts in your field. 

Setting Yourself Apart

Again, we’re not saying that you should offer anything less than a great product or service. However, in today’s competitive market, providing an excellent client experience can set you apart from your competitors—even if your market is saturated. 

From the initial interaction you have with customers to the support you provide during and even after their time with you, every touchpoint matters. Be sure your communication is clear, timely, and helpful. Under promise and over-deliver. Create customer service protocols so that you can ensure every customer is served well. And, remember that happy clients are your best advocates. They’re likely to return for repeat business and refer you to others. 

Basically, focus on service—not just transactions. This will help you create a loyal customer base that trusts and values your business, and this loyalty is only going to lead to success and growth. 

3. Knowing your numbers & making wise financial decisions. 

Another one of the keys to building a successful small business is something that many of you may not particularly enjoy, and that is knowing your numbers and making wise financial decisions. This includes understanding your revenue streams, cost of doing business, expenses, profit margins, and cash flow. 

And, for the record, when Kelly opened Treefrog Marketing in 2000, she didn’t really understand any of this.

Now, Victoria and Kelly are not financial experts, so we aren’t going to pretend that this is our zone of genius or tell you how to handle your finances, but we do want to encourage you to check out a few resources.

CPAs and Fractional CFOs

First of all, if you aren’t currently working with a CPA or a fractional CFO, Kelly wants to encourage you to find one. While there are certain tools you can use to track your finances, having a financial expert making sure that you’re recording, reporting, and projecting everything properly is only going to save you stress come tax season and help you make wiser financial decisions. 

We also have an upcoming Priority Pursuit episode where Victoria interviews  Linda Karressy, fractional CFO and founder of Insight Financial Group, about practical ways for small businesses to handle their finances. 

Be sure to tune in to “Episode 152” on July 9, 2024, to hear Linda break down the systems you need to put in place to manage your finances as well as what financial professionals you should be working with—such as a bookkeeper, CPA, or fractional CFO—depending on the size of your business and your particular needs. 

Other Financial Resources

Also, if you haven’t read Donald Miller’s book How to Grow Your Small Business, Kelly highly recommends it. While he covers a lot in this book, Miller really details a simple structure that will help set you up for financial success.

Kelly also highly recommends Profit First by Mike My Kal O Wits. In fact, Donald Miller points out the strategies in Profit First in his book, How to Grow Your Small Business

The main takeaway of any of these resources is that you need to know your numbers. Otherwise, you simply aren’t going to be able to make informed decisions, make wise investments, or be able to build a sustainable business. 

4. Having a marketing strategy that works. 

The final key to building a successful small business is having a marketing strategy that works—especially if you want to take your business to the next level. 

You see, offering a quality product or service that solves a problem, providing an excellent client experience, knowing your numbers, and just plain hard work are all keys to building a successful small business. However, these things can only take you so far. 

In fact, most small businesses plateau, fail to get to the next level, or even fail to keep their doors open simply because their marketing isn’t equipped to take them any further. 

Now, offering a great product or service and giving a great client experience is going to result in referrals. And, as a small business, referrals are important.

In fact, 92% of people are more likely to trust businesses that friends recommend, and referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value than the average customer—meaning referred customers are going to be both some of the easiest sales you make and your most profitable clients.   

However, if your business depends on referrals and word of mouth alone, your growth is limited. Essentially, you’re leaving your success up to others, because your business will only grow if your customers choose to share your business information. 

When you have an effective marketing strategy, however, you can reach new prospects, which makes your growth more or less limitless. 

If you want to have a successful business long-term, you need a marketing strategy. 

Creating a Marketing Strategy 

Because there’s nothing we want more than for your small business to succeed, we would love to share with you the exact strategy we use to help our agency clients and coaching students grow by up to 800%.

Access our free guide— ”The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method”—for a step-by-step breakdown of this effective marketing strategy.

You work too hard for your business’s growth to be limited by poor marketing. So, please, don’t let a lack of a marketing strategy stand in the way of reaching your goals.

Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode

 

Learn the EXACT marketing strategy we use to help small businesses grow: The Flywheel Marketing Method.


 

The Priority Pursuit Podcast is a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners define, maintain, and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.

You can find The Priority Pursuit Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Stitcher, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

 


 

Did you enjoy this episode?

If so, pin it to save it for later! Follow us on Pinterest for more marketing, business, branding, and boundary-setting strategies!

 

On “Priority Pursuit,” Kelly and Victoria identify the four crucial keys to building a successful small business that is profitable and sustainable.

 

 

Why should you choose a fractional marketing agency?

Simply put, you get the expertise of a full marketing department without the extensive overhead.

At Treefrog, we help small businesses build effective marketing strategies and systems that streamline their efforts, use resources wisely, and reach business goals.

Explore these frequently asked questions regarding our fractional marketing agency partnerships.

 

How does a fractional marketing team fit into my business?

Why is a fractional marketing team better than hiring in-house?

How is a fractional marketing team more cost-effective?

How will I know if our fractional marketing team partnership is working?

How quickly can a fractional marketing team start delivering results?

How involved will I need to be?

Can a fractional team really understand my business like an in-house team?

Is a fractional marketing team a long-term solution?

Is outsourcing a marketing director something new?

What do fractional CMOs do?

Who needs a fractional CMO?

What are the benefits of hiring a part-time marketing director??

When should you partner with a fractional CMO?

Are there limitations to a fractional CMO?

How do I find a qualified fractional CMO?

How much does it cost to partner with a fractional CMO?

Leverage Kelly's 25 years of marketing leadership, to grow your business.

As the founder and chief marketing strategist at Treefrog Marketing, a co-host of the Priority Pursuit Podcast, a StoryBrand Certified Guide, and fractional chief marketing officer, Kelly Rice has spent more than two decades helping small businesses take their companies to the next level.

By providing trustworthy leadership, building strong marketing teams and systems, and implementing effective marketing strategies that drive results, she works along side of dedicated business leaders who want to make a difference for their companies, employees, and communities.

If you're ready to simplify your marekting life and take your company to next level, connect with Kelly by scheduling a discovery call today.

parallax background
parallax background