When you think of the word marketing, you likely connect it with sales and promotions, which I hear aren’t attractive terms these days. You can’t simply stop marketing your small business, but you can change your mindset and marketing strategy. 

The first step? Reframe marketing as communication.

Small business marketing isn’t just about sales. We don’t always realize it, but everything is born out of our communication. Because marketing is the process of creating a relationship with your prospects over time, as with any relationship, efficient communication must be at the heart of your marketing to deepen that business relationship.

Marketing is also about educating your prospects about your offered products in order to create their desired transformation. Your small business marketing should convey that your company is the best solution to a client’s challenges by communicating all of the nitty gritty details of your product in a short statement.

To market effectively, you must guide your prospect through the cycle of knowing, liking, trusting, buying and recommending your services. Keep these first few factors in mind before creating a marketing strategy:

Where to start – nurturing small business customer and client relationships.

1. 1. KYC. Know your customer. Everyone wants to feel seen and your prospects are no different. Forget ABC (always being closed, for all of those who aren’t familiar with The Boiler Room reference.) Your first step is to gain a deep understanding of who your customer is and create a solution that is of value and offers massive transformation for their unique small business challenges.
   2. Trust. Prospects need to believe that it’s your product of service that will provide their transformation. Communicating effectively with them instills trust. If something is a wonderful fit, explain in your marketing what exactly you can improve for them and how. Conversely, if your product or service is not a good fit for them at that time, let them know that as well. That kind of honesty is going to build your reputation as a trustworthy small business.
   3. Buy buy buy. Sales are not the end of your interaction. We all love the bottom line, but if you want to build a sustainable small business, we can’t simply process customers through a sales cycle. From that first phone call to the sale, you’re nurturing your client relationships. Always follow up after the sale to see how your client is benefiting from your product or service. This will solidify your relationship so they are repeat customers, and give you the opportunity to see if they need additional support or products.
   4. Recommendations. A double edged sword, recommendations are one of the most influential marketing tools out there. In Get Different I write about not relying on recommendations to increase customers in your small business. However, any testimony to or stories of client satisfaction that get out there are incredibly effective when it comes to converting small business leads. Again, this is all about communication. Customers are going to share their experiences, so be sure that your communication during their experience has been elevated from start to finish.

Marketing – Communicating your message effectively with The DAD Method.

When you market you’re showing who you are. Why you can be trusted, liked, hired and recommended. But, your marketing isn’t effective unless people see it. To that end, let’s delve into the main three steps I outline in Get Different and use them as a guide to add to your small business marketing strategy.

A quick story: On the day I launched my first book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, no one bought it. Not even my own mother. Feeling defeated, I had two choices: learn how to market effectively, or abandon my dream.

I knew it was a good book. I knew in my heart it would help other entrepreneurs succeed. This led me to an epiphany that has resonated with me every day for my entire career: I have a responsibility to market.

Playing it safe and following a standard book launch plan (this was over ten years ago, it’s a little different now) kept me from the success I hoped for. Looking back on that experience made me realize I needed to approach marketing differently. 

The lack of good, effective marketing is the reason for small business mediocrity and stunted growth. It cannot be overstated enough: You have a responsibility to market effectively. It’s that simple. You became a small business owner because you saw the impact you could have on the world with your offering, and you thought it could serve better than the rest. With the numerous responsibilities that come with business ownership, your main focus should land on marketing your offering in a way that makes you shine among your competition and serve your community of customers.

It’s natural for fear and adversity to arise when running a business. It’s a strange time, to say the least. The idea of getting back to normal is obscure for some. Others may realize that normal wasn’t that great. Add to that, many of us are wondering what’s going to happen next in the current economy, which leads to trepidation when developing your business strategies. The one strategy that is paramount to the survival of your business is in marketing.

There will always be a reason (I like to call these excuses) not to market. You may think now isn’t the time. Perhaps you’re revamping your product. Maybe you’re an introvert. Maybe a health crisis, politics or social justice issues are creating a sensitive time in the world (in which case, yes, time your messaging accordingly). Whatever the reason, you must find a way to get over the fear of failure and market your offering so it cuts through the static and gets noticed. Your business, your livelihood, and that of your family and employees, depends on it.

So what are you going to do? I assume you didn’t get this far because you give up easily. If you want to get noticed and get real results in a crowded market, follow the DAD methodology in Get Different. Based on years of marketing research and experiments, The DAD Method offers a blueprint for engaging and converting your prospects into leads. DAD stands for Differentiate, Attract, and Direct. Without further adieu, here are the three main steps from Get Different to ensure your marketing is engaging – and effective. For good.

Three steps for successful marketing with The DAD Method:

Step 1 – Differentiate. The first step, differentiate, in the DAD framework is quite literal. To get attention and stand out in the constant buzzing of marketing, you must, must get different. You must identify a marketing approach intrinsic to you that stands out in a sea of sameness. Standing out means you shine a light on your strength, and how that strength offers solutions and transformations. Being different doesn’t require a massive shift. It just has to be one small step that is unexpected. Prospects need to be able to differentiate your solutions from all other options. Do not rely on word of mouth for marketing. That’s just lazy. By doing that, you are forgoing your marketing methods and leaving it in the hands of people who have no skin in your game. Don’t cross your fingers and hope people hear about you. Marketing is one of the things in your business that you can control. 

What will make your prospect’s minds stop and pay attention? How can you engage them during the marketing milliseconds? What is your “est”? Are you the smartest or the funniest? How is your business the best? Use that quality in your marketing to stand out among the others. Now, I’m not saying dress up in tight, shiny clothes and create a book release video (like we did), but you can use your unique qualities, the ones authentic to who you are and what your service offers to market the heck out of your product. And get creative, or no one is going to see you. Don’t be afraid to stand out. It’s not natural for everyone, and you may have to leave your ego at the door and take a risk. One that will be worth it.

“Different isn’t doing more of what everyone else does, it’s doing more of what you do.”

Another quick story. This last month my friend John Briggs and I headed to the college football championships. These games are known for fans dressing like maniacs, so who were we to be party poopers? What’s interesting is that all the fans dress radically but there’s a consistency, a common and expected gear. 

We ended up donning huge purple wigs. And you know what? We were the only whackos with huge purple wigs on that day. And you know what else? We ended up on ESPN. Then we were interviewed by USA Today. Then we met about one hundred fans as they asked for photos with us.

The lesson here isn’t to run out and get a purple wig, but to determine what is just different enough to make you stand out? 

And yes. I’m saving the wig. Purple just may be my color.

Step 2 – Attract – How to determine who you need to engage. Your marketing is going to stink if you don’t know exactly who your customer is that will receive the most impact from your services.. Sure, you can be different and you can probably attract them. But for how long? Long enough to get them to that next step of signing up? Nope. They’ll move on to the next shiny object because your message didn’t speak to them personally. Ouch.

Attracting small business points back to communication. There’s a lot of talk about knowing your customer avatar – or your customer profile. People respond to what speaks to their identity, and we are attracted to images and messages that affirm that identity and who we are. Read that last sentence again, because this is the sweet spot. Once you identify your customer, their pain points, and how your offering can serve their needs, you will be able to engage them in your marketing long enough for them to become your next customer. Probably for good.

I can’t identify your customer for you. Your offering is likely different from mine. I will share that sure, we check reports and data to see how our marketing is performing. However, I like to go a little next level (I bet you knew that) so I often survey my customers and have a call to action in my books to create a path of communication. We receive personal responses to these invitations and people share their stories and exactly what their needs are. From there I am able to tailor our offering, and our marketing strategies naturally begin to speak to the identity of our customers. 

Step 3 – Direct. What’s your call to action, and does it convert prospects? Now that you’ve got your marketing message out there, what do you want your customers to do? What is your call to action? Your strategy must compel your ideal prospects to take a specific action you desire, and fast.

Once you have the prospect’s attention and they are engaged, you need to tell them what the heck to do. Marketing expert Jeff Walker says that marketing is every step you take to get the customer to the buying decision, and the sale is the final action on their decision to buy. 

Your clear, singular directive should lead potential customers to the next step. With every marketing offer, provide very clear, concise, and short directions. If the directions are too wordy or involved, you’re going to lose that prospective client. The easier the better – it ensures you will get more responses.

Remember these two things when it comes to marketing:

1. Every interaction is a communication. Really see and understand who you’re communicating with. Listen. Communicating that you’re engaged with them and communicating your small business solutions will help them.
2. Get different. Stand out. Break a few rules. You, your business, and your clients deserve it.

I’ve included a worksheet for you. Download this worksheet now, and get to work on your first step toward optimizing your marketing today.

Wishing you health and wealth always.

-Mike

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