Ok, I admit, I may be a little bit biased. I love me some marketing strategy
But the reason I love it so much is I see time and time again how much having a clear strategy not only helps small business owners grow their businesses much more rapidly, but also gives them a sense of calm while doing it.
I get it, coming up with a marketing strategy, especially when you can barely see how you will get through the next week is extremely difficult. But trust me when I say taking a little time out to figure out all of this will pay off tenfold, a hundred fold, in the future.
Not quite convinced? Here are 10 reasons why
#1 You know where you are going
Kind of obvious, but it needs to be said.
Having a strategy means you can see what is over the horizon.
You have a destination.
You have a map to get there.
You eliminate that feeling of being lost in this business jungle.
#2 It empowers you to say No to Shiny Objects
If there was a shortage of anything in the world it would definitely NOT be methods in which you can market your business.
Everybody has their opinion on what latest and greatest strategy will be that silver bullet to success.
But everything cannot be a silver bullet.
In fact the act of trying to do everything will STOP that bullet from even firing out of the gun.
You can be so busy trying to do #allthethings that you don’t have time to implement anything effectively.
Kind of like an endless series of false starts at the 100m sprint. Always putting in energy but never getting past the first few metres.
By having a strategy you are empowered to say no because you can quickly assess if this latest “thing” fits into it or not.
#3 No more burnout
Leading on from the above, you can see how quickly trying to do everything will burn you out.
I’ve been there. It is NO fun.
You feel like you HAVE to work hard and do absolutely everything to be successful. But instead, you end up lying in bed for days not able to motivate yourself to do the simplest of tasks.
The longer I am doing this business thing, I have found the opposite to be the case.
The more space and strategy I put into my business.
The more I take time to stop and think.
The more I appreciate each milestone.
The LESS I do.
The more sales come my way.
Strategy enables you to have this!
#4 You know what needs to be done each day
Do you find yourself sitting in front of the computer sometimes just staring blankly?
You know you need to create a few social media posts for the week but you just can’t think of anything to write.
So in the end you just do yet another google search for an inspirational quote or funny meme and hope that’s enough to help you get noticed by your audience.
Instead, by having a strategy you KNOW EXACTLY what you need to cover off next.
You know where your audience is on their journey with you and you know what will take them to the next step.
#5 It allows for creativity
One of the biggest objections I hear when I talk about creating marketing plans, especially from creatives is that they think it will stifle their creativity.
Instead, it has the exact opposite effect.
By having a strategy, you have now created the SPACE to allow creativity to flourish.
If you are constantly chasing that next sale or putting out that fire, how will you find time to be creative?
And, even better, if you have a great baseline that is working for you then you can add in layers. You can experiment. You can lean in more to who you are as a business owner.
Strategy creates freedom to create.
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#6 It makes it easy to measure & adapt
If you are throwing absolutely everything at it and all of a sudden you start seeing success, how will you know which is the thing that is working?
You might get stuck continuing to do everything for fear of losing whatever it is that is working.
However, if you have a strategy, if you are putting each of the steps together in a logical order, you can measure what is actually going on.
You can see where in your sales funnel that you are losing potential customers.
You can see what needs improving.
You can begin to make those minor adjustments that make all the difference.
#7 You can systemise or outsource it
Once you stop flying by the seat of your pants and start bringing in consistency, you can now bring in systems to manage big chunks of your workload.
Things like email marketing automations, social media scheduling and creating content in batches.
You can also outsource to a Virtual Assistant or specialist.
You feel confident in that delegation because you know whatever it is serves a purpose and directly has an impact on your profit margin.
#8 a strategy will get you MORE SALES
This is what it comes down to really. A good marketing strategy will get you more sales. Simple.
When everything is working together in harmony, your audience will not be able to help but take notice.
They will feel connected to your brand.
They will be ready to buy.
And the best part is, if you implement all of this right, you won’t need to do much “selling” to do it!
#9 A Strategy will give you MORE TIME
I imagine when you created your business that you had this vision of having a life of more freedom.
More time to spend with your kids.
More holidays.
More adventure.
Instead, more and more you find yourself tied to your computer.
For all of the reasons listed above, you will soon discover more time in your day.
You will actually be able to PLAN for time off!
You can schedule in that weekly massage.
You can ensure you are at your kid’s athletics carnival.
You can go on that cruise you have been dreaming of for years.
All because you have something in place that allows you the room to plan for those things.
#10 Your impact will increase
When it comes to marketing strategy, I love to use the analogy of an orchestra.
There are a lot of instruments in an orchestra and each individual instrument can sound lovely on it’s own.
However, if you put all of those instruments together into an orchestra and they each are doing their own thing it would sound horrible!
On the other hand, if they are all playing off the same song sheet. Sharing the same message. Fulfilling their role in a greater plan, the effect is amplified.
All of a sudden, this groundswell of powerful music demands attention.
That is what having and implementing a strategy will give you.
It will get you noticed.
It will help create an emotional connection to your audience.
It will create impact.
That sounds like a pretty good place to conclude on, so I will leave you with that image.
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Get started on your path to greater impact, more sales and more time by downloading it [thrive_2step id=’5053′]here.[/thrive_2step]
