Show Notes
EPISODE 2 – THE TWO FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING MISSED IN YOUR MARKETING PLAN
Hey, Hey,
……. and welcome to Episode two of the Small Business Made Easy Podcast.
Thanks for joining me again!
I’ve had so much wonderful support since launching this podcast only a week ago – the downloads have been just so humbling (although I’m pretty sure at least one was my Mum, and even my Aunties – but still!).
The reviews have been amazing too. The simple fact that people listen and then take time to type a quick review means the world. So, hand on heart thank you listeners – can’t wait for us to become friends!
THIS WEEKS SPONSOR …
Today’s episode is brought to you by my highly sort after eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation ideas – yep 108 of them!
If you have writer’s block in 2019 left over from 2018 – then this will definitely help! Just go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/108 and download the eBook there!
Pro – tip though – make sure you print it out and pin it somewhere, so it can keep inspiring you!
Today we’re going to chat about the 2 critical things, the 2 marketing fundamentals people forget when setting out their marketing plans for the year, month, week, day – however you plan!
If you don’t plan – then we have a little work to do ….
THIS WEEKS DISCOVER JUST FOR YOU!
Oh, and this one’s a little brilliant time-wasting friend that I just know you’ll love
https://phlntn.com/emojibuilder/
Oh yes, an emoji builder!
That stats of using emojis in your marketing for increase engagement are growing and growing.
If you use an emoji in a subject line of an email can increase your open rate by up to 7%!
It works because it’s different, its eye catching in a busy inbox world – if you haven’t tried it – do some A/B testing and see if it works.
But aside from email – it’s a great addition to interactions on social media – highlight your feelings!
And now you can build your own.
I built one – took me all of 60 seconds and it’s in the show notes for anyone interested
I have love heart eyes – because I just love the idea of having my own brand of emojis to use in marketing!
Have a play – I hope you can see some strategic uses too (or just a little fun to be had!!)
THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL MARKETINGS MISSED IN YOUR MARKETING PLAN
You hear lots of people saying you need a business plan – do you have a business plan and although you might need one for the bank or for the accountant etc – I challenge you that the priority shouldn’t be a business plan – but a marketing plan!
And there’s 2 marketing fundamentals I see people forgetting with it comes to their marketing plans.
NUMBER 1 – THE FORMUAL!
The first one is that they don’t follow the formula. Which formula? The one I teach everyone I talk to!
The one that sees your Facebook/Instagram/twitter/snap chat/LinkedIn etc posts, time spent making them, time spent responding to them and so on – NOT helping you achieve your business goals.
EVERYTHING YOU DO IN BUSINESS SHOULD BE HELPING YOU REACH YOUR GOAL – whatever that is!
We need to stop posting for postings sake.
We need to stop emailing for emails sake.
We need to stop posting because some social media expert in a podcast or webinar or email told us that we need to post at least once a day or twice a day or pin 12 times a day
We need to stop emailing our list because they haven’t heard from us in a while or because you committed to yourself to doing it each week, but you’ve got nothing valuable to say.
Posting needs strategy. Social Media need strategy. Email marketing needs strategy.
It’s marketing and making needs strategy!
So, let me explain the formula in an example
So, you can see the digital tactic is going to help achieve my marketing goal of increasing my list size which, in turn, and with other marketing tactics in place, will help increase my bottom line!
Stop posting for posting sake – and start focusing on the business objective – whatever that it is and perhaps spend a little bit of your time today working on your business objective and how digital and offline marketing will play a role in that for you in 2019!
NUMBER 2 – HAVE A REACH OUT STRATEGY
So, the second fundamental thing people miss when working out their marketing plan – and this applies to both online and offline – but it’s a mistake I hear and see SO OFTEN online is THEY DON’T HAVE A REACH OUT STRATEGY
Time and time again I hear people say things like –
Social media don’t work for my business ….
…. Nobody seems to be finding me – it’s too crowded on social media
…. No-one engages with my posts – it’s not worth my time and effort
And I get that – truly I do. Social media can be a complete and utter rabbit warren – an all-time consuming beast and if you’re not seeing the rewards then can lead to broad (and wrong) statements like “social media doesn’t work for my type of business”.
We’ve all be sold a lie when it comes to social media – the build it and they will come lie – it’s not true – we can build the heck out of something and they still might not come because they don’t know we’re here!
For the clients or audience members I hear saying things like that, I love to scratch the surface just a weee bit to see what their social media strategy is and how long they spend on social media, NOT POSTING, in a day, or a week.
Responses include a look of confusion and what do you mean, or time lines of 5 minutes, 10 minutes or none – and there my friends lies the problem.
You see it’s called SOCIAL MEDIA – with the emphasis on the word SOCIAL!
For over 2 years in just about every talk I give, every client meeting I have, every coaching session I do, I say it “you’ve got to get social on social media”.
And although I’ve been saying it for years – I truly believe that in 2019 you will simple have no choice – you get social or you’ll become irrelevant.
You go and get a reach out strategy or you become irrelevant.
What’ a reach out strategy? It’s exactly as it sounds – you spend time on social media – reaching out to people you perceive as your ideal client or customer, someone who might do business with you one day – and you start interacting with them!
On Facebook and LinkedIn – maybe it’s about joining a group in which some members might be your ideal client and you start conversations, offering value to them, answering their questions or just being social by lifting them up – saying congratulations and well done when they have a small win, or replying to them when they comment on your post!
This is one of the biggest mistakes EVER on social media – someone comments on your post and you never return to interact! That’s like being at a party and people saying, “Hi Pete, how you going’” and you looking at them dead in the eye and walking away!
You’ll never win friends that way – in fact the complete opposite!
and it’s no different on social media – it’s sometimes just plain rude!
On a platform like Instagram – your reach out strategy may be a little different – although you should still interact with people who interact with you! (except bots – people who use bots to do automation commenting – forget those – you can tell if it’s a human or not interacting with you!)
On Instagram – go looking for your ideal client or customer – search your most used hashtags and see who else is interacting with them – follow them – you never know they just might follow you back! Comment on their posts – and holy grail they might comment on yours back!
If someone follows you – check them out – if they aren’t a follow/unfollow dropkick – then follow them back!
How do you tell if they are a follow/unfollow dropkick – check out their “following” vs “followed” stats – if they follow 200 people but have 4,000 following them – then there’s a chance they’re a follow/unfollow dropkick! Unless they’re famous – then perhaps you can follow them back – in fact if Harvey Spectre follows me – I am SO following him back! Yeah, I know he’s fictional, but a girl can hope right!
If you’re unsure what follow/unfollow means – it’s a really really bad strategy where accounts follow people, get them to follow them back, and then return sometime later and unfollow the person they just followed – it’s a crap strategy and if you do it – STOP!
If I’m sounding a little sarcastic about the whole reach out strategy – I do apologise but you can see how simple this theory is right – it’s not rocket science and yet it’s not normal practice either and it just should be!
Reaching out works wonder on LinkedIn too. In a similar way.
The question I get asked most when asking people to spend time reaching out – is how much time do I spend?
The answer – well, you’re not going to be pleased – but it varies! Sorry!
It’s as long as it takes to reply to everyone who has interacted with you and it’s a few minutes more for you to go seeking your ideal client in the hope that they will follow you back to your nest (or social platforms!) and eventually buy from you.
I cannot encourage you enough to make your 2019 social media goal to GET SOCIAL ON SOCIAL! Join some groups, spend some time in there, make content people will interact with and interact back – remembering that your content on social should either EDUCATE your audience, ENGAGE your audience with value or ENTERTAIN your audience!
Today’s been a little tough love to begin 2019 – but it is done in LOVE. Some of these lessons I wish someone had of told me, so I wouldn’t have spent so much time learning them the hard way for myself.
So that’s it for episode 2 – and just to recap the two fundamentals that people forget in their marketing plans were
- Making sure your digital strategies and goals are aligned with your business objectives and goals, and
- Ensuring you have a reach out strategy to engage your audience both online and offline (although I’ve concentrated heavily on online here today!)
So that’s it for episode 2 of the Small Business Made Simple podcast –
I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how, and another great discovery for you!
If you’re liking the podcast already – please head over to where you listen and leave a rating – those things are GOLD for podcasters like me! I’ll be eternally grateful!
Remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!
Ahh this is a great podcast – get social on social media and be strategic have a plan! Oh and I am a huge Harvey Spectre fan (Harvey is my phone screen)
Thank you Jenn xxx