Small businesses in general know that they need marketing in some way shape or form. When we get a prospective client contacting us, the only thing they do know is that there’s one of two objectives:
What does our process look like? Our process is firstly to understand our clients, their objectives, their goals and their challenges, their audience and how we can create a point of difference and a positioning for them. Then it’s about creating some structure around their marketing, the best way to do that is to create some consistency in the frequency of their communication and a consistency in the message of their communication. The best way to do that is to create a structure and a plan around their marketing and then it’s about consulting them on an ongoing basis to make sure that whatever we’re doing is working and maybe whatever is not working we look at tweaking or fixing. This is so that it achieves the goals that they set out to achieve for their business and personally and that consultative approach is so key to make sure that marketing is heading in the right direction.
Do this one simple step TODAY to move your small business forward
My favourite client is a client that comes to us and wants to understand how we can help them. We tell them about our approach and that we’ve been working with small business owners for 17 years and then they start to [****] on our proven approach and what’s worked with other Australian small business owners. So, then I ask them, what marketing are you doing now and they say none! How can you [****] on our approach when you’re doing nothing. Clearly whatever you’re doing isn’t working, regardless of whether you work with Little Marketing or someone else. Just take action and don’t be critical when you’re doing nothing.
How can small businesses in Australia take decisive action sooner?
What’s the biggest flaw that creates failure in small businesses? It’s not knowing your numbers and not having transparency on your numbers on a regular basis. That includes your profit and loss statements, income and expenditure, the return on specific measurable marketing activities, what staff are the most profitable and which aren’t, wastage within your office, within your retail store – you need to know at any point in time, what your number look like and where your income is coming from. Transparency allows you to make decisions and decisions allow you the best opportunity to grow your business. Without knowing where you’re at, it’s impossible to make decisions. Businesses fail because they don’t know where they are at any point in time, so speak to your accountant, get your profit and loss updated every week, be looking at your numbers every week and do that so that you can make decisions now and not in a month’s time.
The team here at Little Marketing have been working with small business owners for over 16 years and helping them in this approach. If you're looking for a consultative approach to your small business marketing, then speak with our team today.