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Oftentimes, small businesses put marketing on the back burner because their plates are full and they don’t have time to become marketing experts themselves.
As a result, marketing gets moved to the very bottom of their to-do lists; they try tactics here and there without seeing lasting results; they panic when business stops coming in; and then they make haphazard marketing choices.
Understanding this, we want to make two things clear. First, doing marketing things here and there and operating from a marketing strategy are not one and the same.
And second, having an effective marketing strategy is critical to long-term, consistent success.
In case you don’t believe us, in this episode, we’re going to break down five reasons why your small business needs a marketing strategy and give you a proven strategy that you can begin to implement today.
1. Having a marketing strategy gives you clarity & structure.
First of all, operating from a marketing strategy gives you and your team clarity and structure, and this prevents chaos.
How often have you put marketing on the back burner simply because you don’t know what to focus on? Or, how many times have you sat down to “work on your marketing” and not even put in a dent because you don’t know where to start or what to work on?
This is why you need to develop a marketing strategy; it will help you define what’s important, set sales and marketing goals, and then create a plan of action to achieve those goals.
For example, your marketing strategy should detail which social media platforms you should use to reach your ideal clients so that you aren’t wasting time or energy on platforms that your ideal clients simply don’t engage with.
Basically, unless you have a long-term plan with clear, actionable steps, you won’t know what to work on or what to prioritize. Instead, you’ll likely find yourself failing to prioritize your marketing—which prevents business growth—and trying one marketing tactic after another without seeing results—which wastes time and money. And, this is only going to lead to frustration, burnout, and chaos.
However, when you let an effective marketing strategy serve as your compass, you can say goodbye to uncertainty and confidently market and steer your business toward the growth you want to see.
2. Having a marketing strategy allows you to use your time, budget, & other resources wisely.
Now, we already touched on this a little bit, but your marketing strategy should detail which marketing tactics you should be focusing on based on your ideal clients. For example, maybe your ideal client doesn’t use TikTok, but they check LinkedIn every day and listen to podcasts all day long.
As a result, your strategy isn’t going to include TikTok, even though you personally may love using the platform. Instead, it’s going to detail the fact that you need to be active on LinkedIn and that you should start a podcast.
Basically, when you operate from a marketing strategy, you’ll be able to determine how to best spend your time so that you can see results and not waste your resources—which is arguably your most valuable commodity as a small business owner.
Plus, your marketing strategy is also going to help you determine how to use your budget wisely. For example, you may need to invest in an agency or team member to help you launch the podcast we just talked about. Or, your strategy may call for investing in social media or Google ads.
Basically, when you operate from a marketing strategy that is designed to help you reach, connect with, and convert your ideal client, you can ensure your budget is invested in the wisest and most strategic place—as opposed to guessing or being taken advantage of by a slick salesperson.
3. When you have an effective marketing strategy, you can attract your ideal customers & repel those who aren’t the right fit.
When you have an effective marketing strategy, you can attract your ideal customers and—as a bonus—repel those who just aren’t a good fit for your business.
An effective marketing strategy is always going to start with identifying and understanding your ideal client—the customers you’re best suited to work with. From there, you’ll create messaging that speaks directly to your ideal client so that you connect with and—ultimately—convert them. Basically, you have to determine exactly what your ideal customers need to hear to make them want to work with you.
Once you have your messaging, your marketing strategy is more or less going to help you determine where to put your messaging and what kind of content you need to create in order to reach and attract your ideal clients.
This is important for a few reasons. But, when you work with those you’re best suited to serve—as opposed to those who just aren’t the right fit—you’ll have higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, which is going to result in more repeat business and referrals.
Additionally, your ideal clients are more likely to appreciate and benefit from your products or services, which leads to better outcomes, stronger brand recognition, and more profits.
Plus, you and your team are simply going to enjoy your jobs more when you work with clients or customers you’re well-suited to serve and whom you actually like. And, who doesn’t want that?
4. Having a marketing strategy helps prospects & customers connect with & remember you.
In addition to attracting your ideal clients, operating from a marketing strategy is also going to help your prospects—and even current customers—connect with and remember you.
This is important because people rarely purchase something the first time they see or hear about it.
Have you ever heard of the “rule of seven”? It's a marketing principle that contends that customers need to see your brand at least seven times before they commit to a purchase decision.
With this in mind, a big part of why small businesses don’t see success with their marketing is simply because they’re inconsistent. Basically, they market their businesses as they have time, but because their prospects aren’t regularly seeing content from them, they don’t make purchases.
Just as important as consistency is understanding your audience and using a marketing strategy. Because, in addition to helping you determine what to say, it will help you determine things like how often you should be posting on social media, when you should be releasing new content, and exactly what you need to be doing so that you can create messaging and consistency that helps prospects remember you.
Your audience is more likely to remember you if you use a story.
While consistency is going to get you far in helping your ideal clients remember you, using a story-based framework in your marketing is going to take you even further.
In fact, people are 22 times more likely to remember story-based marketing.
With the average attention span of humans decreasing to just eight seconds or less—so it’s vital to capture your audience’s attention quickly and effectively.
And, story is proven to be the most effective way to do this. The simple fact is that we love and remember stories. While very few of us can retain lists of facts and statistics, research shows that using elements of story can make us 22 times more likely to remember something—including a business.
This is because stories have a unique ability to bypass the analytical part of the brain and resonate with emotions—making them more memorable than a plain list of features or benefits.
Remember, the reason you need to have a story-based marketing strategy is so that you can consistently market your business so that prospects and current customers will connect with and remember you.
Consistency and story can make all the difference in the effectiveness of your marketing.
5. Your business can’t get to the next level without an effective marketing strategy.
Last but not least, you need an effective marketing strategy because your business simply cannot get to the next level without one.
Hard work, great products and services, and exceptional customer service are all key factors in building a successful small business. However, these things can only take you so far. In fact, most small businesses plateau or fail to get to the next level simply because their marketing isn’t equipped to take them any further.
Yes, offering great products and services and serving your customers well 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—and honestly, most small businesses don’t have a referral strategy or systems in place to encourage referrals, so growing a business that way can be really hard.
When you have an effective marketing strategy, however, you can reach new prospects making your growth more or less limitless.
To make this last reason short and sweet, your growth is limited unless you have an effective marketing strategy with clear steps and objectives that deliver results.
Want a marketing strategy that’s proven to work for small businesses?
As a quick recap, it’s important for your small business to have a marketing strategy because:
- It gives you clarity and structure so you know which marketing tactics to focus on.
- It allows you to use your time, budget, and other resources wisely.
- You can attract your ideal customers, which comes with several benefits.
- A story-based marketing strategy enables you to be remembered.
- And, your business can’t get to the next level without an effective marketing strategy.
For those five reasons—and honestly several others—you need to be operating from a marketing strategy—not marketing your business or trying various tactics when you have “free” time. You need a marketing strategy with clear steps and objectives.
On that note, we want to share a marketing strategy with you that is proven to work for small businesses: the flywheel marketing method.
The Flywheel Marketing Method
In case you aren’t familiar with the flywheel marketing method, this is the exact strategy we use for nearly all of our agency clients because it’s proven to work for small businesses. I mean, some of our clients have seen up to 800% growth as a result of this strategy.
This is also the strategy Victoria used as a wedding photographer that allowed her to meet her booking goals year after year and become entirely self-employed.
Put simply, the flywheel marketing method is a marketing strategy where your website and online marketing efforts are in sync and function as a flywheel to continually produce results.
In case you aren’t mechanically inclined, a flywheel is a mechanical device used to store rotational energy. A flywheel includes a heavy wheel or disc that’s mounted on an axle that can rotate.
Flywheels are different from regular wheels in that flywheels store energy—allowing them to rotate and function from their built-up energy reserve even when new energy isn’t being applied.
For example, think about a hand-crank flashlight. When you rotate the crank, you give the flywheel energy, which it stores. As a result, when you need to use the flashlight, you don’t have to crank the wheel to keep the light on. Instead, the flashlight uses its stored energy from its flywheel to power the flashlight’s bulb.
With a hand-crank flashlight, if you apply energy upfront, you’ll have light for a long time. And, in the same way, when you use the flywheel marketing method, you or your marketing team will need to put in quite a bit of work upfront. Then, your marketing will more or less continue to work on its own—just requiring minimal maintenance.
As a marketing agency for small businesses, we recommend the flywheel marketing method for almost all small businesses because:
- It’s proven to work. Again, our clients have experienced up to 800% growth as a result of this strategy.
- Once your flywheel system is built, your marketing will essentially continue to work on its own—which is ideal for small businesses that want to see big, consistent results.
Basically, when you use the flywheel marketing method, you can feel confident in your marketing strategy; prevent the time and income loss that come with trying one ineffective marketing tactic after another; and focus on other important aspects of your business.
We have done several episodes about this strategy, but we also have a free guide that walks you through the flywheel marketing method in full. This guide breaks down every step of the exact marketing strategy we use for our agency clients, and whether you want to implement this strategy on your own or just better understand it, we would love to share it with you!
Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- Access Our Free Guide “The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method”
- Read “Why Small Businesses Should Use Storytelling in Marketing.
- Receive 50% Off Your First Year of HoneyBook
- Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services
- Join the Priority Pursuit Facebook Community
- Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
- Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
- Follow or DM Victoria Rayburn on Instagram
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.
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