Marketing 101: Let People Know What You Have to Offer

Marketing is THE key ingredient to your business success. No matter how good you are at what you do, if nobody knows you are out there doing it, they can’t hire you. So marketing is the number one activity you can engage in to benefit your business regardless of what business you’re actually in. Think of it like this: you’re not a graphic designer; you’re a marketer of graphic design services. In a very real way, marketing is your business. There is no higher leverage activity in which you can engage. Why is marketing so important? It’s simple. It doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do if nobody can hire you because they don’t know you exist. That means you don’t make money, you don’t get to engage in the work you are passionate about and you don’t get to help people through that work unless you market your business.

What can you do this week to let people know about your business?

Here are 11 tips to get you started:

1. Take a look at what you are already dong to market your business. What’s working? What isn’t?
2. Who is in your target market? Make a list of places where you can expose them to your message?
3. Do you have a market plan? If not, you need one!
4. Is your marketing message consistent? Don’t confuse your market with conflicting messages. Keep your language, message frequency, USP (unique selling proposition), etc. consistent
5. Don’t give up too soon. Often it times some time for your message to gain traction. Pick a couple of marketing techniques and stick with them for a while before assessing their success.
6. Are you utilizing social media to your advantage? Are you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
7. What steps in your marketing plan can you automate so they happen consistently and save you time and effort.
8. Be honest in all your messages. Don’t make claims you and your business can’t live up to.
9. Stress the benefits of your service more than the features
10. Show your personality and have fun with your marketing.
11. Don’t use marketing techniques you think you should use solely because they work for others. Use the methods that really fit your style and personality to get the best results.

Remember that marketing is meant to be an ongoing process. Even when you have all the business you can handle, you still want to be marketing. It’s OK to have a waiting list of people who want to work with you. In fact, it’s great as you’ll never have to worry where your next client is coming from and there’s never a dull moment.

Pick 3-5 items from the list above to work on this week or come up with your own ideas. The secret to success is consistent results oriented joyful action.

As always, have fun with this process.

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