Is Your Marketing Leaving Money on the Table?

It’s a new year, and you’ve promised yourself that you’ll keep a closer eye on your business finances- great! Every business starts the year out with the intention of making more money. Unfortunately, most of them run circles around themselves to tap into new sources of business, and leave prospective customers right there in front of them.

This year, make a commitment to use your army. What do I mean? There are countless people around you – family, friends, neighbors, who like you and want to see you succeed. However, we rarely take the time to be sure our local foot soldiers truly understand what we do best.

  1. Write a start of the year email to your closest friends and family about your business. How has it grown over the past year. What is new or different from last year? Give them the news; thank them for their support and their ongoing role in your success.
  1. Be CLEAR about who you help, so they can just as easily identify potential clients for you. There are two ways to talk about what I do. Example 1: “I do marketing.” (YAWN. I usually use this one if I want to end the line of questioning there!)  Example 2: “I help small businesses and startups create the marketing strategy and marketing materials they need. Basically, if a company doesn’t have their own marketing department, I can step in and help steer them.”

Sure, my explanation could be much more detailed, and it certainly could use more lingo! But I’ve hit on what my mom, my best friend, or my dentist need to know: my clients are startups and small businesses and I help them when they’re struggling. And I did it without talking down to them.

  1. Don’t use lingo when you’re talking about your work with your social circle. Why? You will get your message (here, your message is “what I do”) across better if you talk to them how you usually would.
  1. Share any goals for the year. Let them know if you have a sweet spot (“I do really well with tech companies”, “I’m passionate about marketing for women-owned businesses”)
  1. Invite them on social media. Will they read your every post? No. But it will build your numbers, and they may be encouraged to share what you put out there with the right people.

If your friends or family are not already using your services, this could be a good time to sit back and think about why. Don’t corner them, scare them, or threaten them, but consider whether (outside of conflicts of interest) you’re missing the lowest hanging, wonderful fruit in front of you.