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Small Business Marketing

I was enjoying conversation about marketing with a small group of associates when I heard a comment from someone that went right through me like nails on a chalkboard.

The statement? "I´ve tried everything and nothing seems to work except word of mouth, and that just drips in."

A friend of mine spoke up before I had the chance to say anything. She´s worked with me in the past and knows my passion for low-cost, hi-impact marketing.

Before I tell you my answer, let´s protect the innocent while I give you some background on the person who spoke up. Let´s call the man who threw out this comment "Jim."

I met Jim a few times before, and knew him as a bright man with the potential for significant success in business. I knew Jim had left the corporate world after being downsized, and decided to start his own service business a few years ago.

Rather than answering my friend directly, I turned and asked Jim how he knew that, out of the hundreds of marketing approaches he´s used to get new clients, word of mouth was the only approach that worked. "Oh, I haven´t really tried hundreds of marketing ideas," he replied.

Ok, so I asked him out of the dozens of approaches he´s tried, how did he know what was bringing him new clients and what wasn´t. Now stammering a bit, Jim replied, "Well I haven´t tried dozens of approaches, really, fully.."

For the benefit of everyone there, including Jim, I cut to the chase and asked him point blank the specific marketing techniques he´s used to come to his conclusions. Jim sheepishly replied, "I´ve run some ads in the newspaper and did a couple of mailings to local businesses." That was Jim´s definition of trying "everything" to market his business.

Unfortunately, Jim is not out of the ordinary. Many people think they´ve tried "everything" to market their business, when in fact they´ve really only made a few feeble attempts at mirroring what companies with limitless marketing budgets do.

With a little coaxing, I convinced Jim to share more with our group so everyone could learn something new. As we continued our conversation Jim was willing to admit that, although he knew how to do his job, he knew very little about marketing or running a business.

He admitted he needed more education on growing a profitable business and needed to try many more approaches before short changing himself any longer.

Jim wasted no time. He went out and read four books I recommended, signed up for one of our REDLine Learning™ courses (Small Business, BIG Profits) and even invested in some coaching on a few projects.

Within six months, Jim had doubled his clientele and we began working on hiring a field manager and two new technicians to handle the work load while he focused on growing the business to the next level.

What Does "Everything" Mean To You?

How many times have you said to yourself, "I´ve tried everything to get more clients." I know I´ve fallen into that self-pity party myself on more than a few occasions. How about you?

Here´s something you can do to stop those words dead in their tracks the next time they want to creep out. Simply ask yourself, "What specific things have I tried to attract new clients?" Write down all the answers. The short list that´s likely to result may surprise you.

Don´t beat yourself up though. This list is the starting point for success, and you´ll be in the company of tremendously successful people like Thomas Edison who´ve done exactly the same thing.

After struggling to develop a viable electric light-bulb for months and months, Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now.

Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9000 ways that an electric light bulb will NOT work.

Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb. And we´re all the better for it, and thankful he persevered.

Brilliant, yes. Unique to Edison, no.

You have the same power to succeed within you. You must take the list of things you´ve tried so far and learn from them.

Maybe you, like our friend Jim from the wine tasting, need to expand your knowledge in marketing. Then you need to read some good strategic marketing books, take some training courses or even get your own business coach to help you stop reinventing the wheel, move ahead quickly and start putting more profits into your pocket.

And don´t fall for the "I´ll just hire a ´pro´ to do it for me" lie.

While there are some things in your business that you don´t need to know well before trusting someone else to complete them, marketing is not one of them.

Blindly handing over your marketing dollars to a marketing pro is no different than handing over your life savings to a so-called "investment pro" without understanding investing. You shouldn´t do it with your retirement funds, and you shouldn´t do it with your marketing budget either.

Whatever your challenges are, you never want to use the word everything in describing what you´ve tried. Appreciate what you´ve attempted so far - yes. Learn what you can from it and identify where your own personal knowledge is lacking - sure.

But then take steps to fill in those gaps and move boldly ahead trying more and more techniques until you discover what really works for you.

There is no "luckier" or easier way to become more successful.