The largest mistake I notice small business owners make, me included, is we do not have any patience when it comes to marketing. Unfortunately, in marketing, a lack of patience will kill your marketing efforts. In order for our PR and marketing tactics to work, we must learn a great deal of patience. This article provides a few tips you can use to determine if you are one of those impatient business owners.
It’s summer and so for that reason I’ll break from my insistence on pragmatic advice and write on a topic you might consider fluff. Yet it’s the biggest mistake I see small business owners make, including me. We have no patience. I think that it’s a given that a requirement for being an entrepreneur is to have a low grade case of ADD, or in my case, ADHD with an emphasis on the H. And in marketing, that will kill you.
I can’t tell you how many times a client tries something and when there are no immediate results says “Well that doesn’t work.” It’s like lifting weights one day and expecting that tricep cut to develop overnight. I’m not suggesting that we all go out and spend a bajillion dollars on advertising during American Idol. But I do think that in order for your PR and marketing tactics to work you have to learn to wait a bit. Here are a few tips to use to figure out if you’re too impatient.
1. Are you measuring your campaign results by the number of orders you’re getting off each initiative? In a word, DON’T. Look at your website hits instead, or the traffic in your store. What’s the first step toward buying your product or service? Do they request a brochure? Do they visit the website? Measure by those “first steps” in the short term.
2. Are you changing your marketing strategy on a weekly or monthly basis? WRONG. You had better have confidence in your strategy (or your consultant) from the start. Nothing works if you don’t believe in it 100% from the beginning. Switching around what you’re doing on a constant basis and you’ll end up running circles.
3. Are you relying on only one outreach method? It may work now, but it will stop working eventually. Or you’ll end up trying one thing after another. BLEND your messaging channels. If you’re doing radio, connect it to an online promotion as well. Trying guerilla marketing? Make sure you’ve got some PR working in conjunction with those “on the ground” techniques.
Particularly in the online world, patience is the key to success. Jay Conrad Levinson, the founder of Guerilla Marketing, believes that patience is the most important characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Be confident in your approach. Measure it wisely. And then, like that old farmer in the field, be patient and watch the seeds of your marketing work grow.
Getting stared with PR
Probably the hardest part about getting started with PR is planning it. The marketing and public relations plans seem so weighty. And trust me they can take forever to write. So here is a simple five-step process for 2008.
Just like a good recipe, marketing is all about the MIX!
Promoting your business, your book, even yourself, takes time to plan. All the time I hear comments like “I tried using a publicist, he didn’t do a thing for me!” Or “I’ve tried advertising it just doesn’t work.” Most people consider one marketing tool at a time. In other words, they try putting an ad on a website. If that doesn’t work, they try a press release. If that doesn’t work, maybe they’ll hire someone to do email marketing. And so on.
Kick off your marketing by finding your target market FIRST!
I know I need marketing, but where do I start? That’s the first question I get from potential clients. It’s hard to know where to begin….do you get prices for ads, hire a publicist, do a newsletter? It’s so confusing, I’m convinced that’s why many people leave it up to chance. The old “if you build it they will come” idea.
