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It\\u2019s interesting to see that so many digital marketing experts and trainers like to draw examples of successful businesses on social media as being big brands. \\u201clook at this amazing thing that Nike did!\\u201d or \\u201cDove beauty products really reached their target audience with this campaign.\\u201d
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When you\\u2019re a small swimwear store in Yeppoon or a tiny artisan baker in Leederville, these comparisons don\\u2019t feel very helpful. Nike has marketing teams across the globe. Dove ploughs tens of millions of dollars into marketing every year. You are lucky to have $3000 to spend this year.
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These giants of successful marketing have access to resources that you don\\u2019t. They have access to people that you don\\u2019t. And they\\u2019re in the position to make super creative content that people want to see. You\\u2019re stuck making messages that you want to put across. And that\\u2019s one of the biggest differences between you and them. How do you find a balance between what you want to say and what people want to see?
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\\n1.\\xa0 \\xa0 Start with a sensible goal in mind
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In big business, they talk about brand awareness and marketplace recognition. In small business, we tend to talk more about marketing\\u2019s return on investment. And for us, that can only be measured in sales. Not in metrics like engagement, reach or brand recall.
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While you\\u2019re not expected to think like a corporation, you can take inspiration from them in how you approach your marketing. And most of your marketing effort as a small business needs to be geared to the same stuff that the big guys gear towards. The Awareness stage of the customer journey. This is where you are introducing your brand, products and services to cold prospects. They don\\u2019t know you. They don\\u2019t want you. But they might one day need you.
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Gearing too much of your marketing and message towards getting people to buy from you straight away without knowing who or what you are is just not going to work with the kinds of tiny budgets we\\u2019re looking at from a small business. And this is why the big guys don\\u2019t tend to ask you to buy anything until they\\u2019re certain that you know who they are and they\\u2019re confident that you\\u2019re almost ready to buy.
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\\n2.\\xa0 \\xa0 Think about the life that your\\xa0 customer leads
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It sounds trite, but it really is important for you to understand who your customer is and how they live. Assuming that everyone is focused on you and your needs as a business is egotistical and delusional. You are barely a consideration in your customer\\u2019s life, even when they\\u2019re shopping around. Your business is the centre of your world. But it\\u2019s not the centre of theirs.
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So to get yourself out of your own bubble of self-importance, you need to understand what your customer desires, requires and hopes to acquire. This means placing your product or service in the middle of all of that. Not forcing a message down about how good you are and why they should choose you. Lead with the problem that someone has, then let them know that there is a solution, suggest that you are the solution, and give them a simple path toward securing that solution.
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This way you\\u2019re starting off with the problem that someone needs solving before you then suggest your solution for that problem.
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