A topic I’ve been pondering for a few days has to do with stepping to the side of your marketing. The way I think of it, this means two things.
First, you have to shove your fear aside and just get out there and market. This can sometimes be easier to do when you stand to the side, rather than straight out front. Many of us are not built to be high energy, shamless self promoters. For us, a “to the side” approach of providing good, relevant content/assistance, inviting people to connect with us, and showing up regularly is how we best build our businesses.
Second, the “to the side” philosophy also means that you stand aside and let your marketing work. If you set up an Adwords campaign, for example, you let it run for long enough to test your idea. If you submit articles for syndication, you let them show up on the internet and assess their impact on your business. If you give a radio interview, you note how much new business you received.
So many people waste a lot of time trying to craft the ‘absolutely perfect’ marketing strategy. In fact, they spend a lot of time planning and learning, but very little time actually doing. The most successful business owners adopt the strategy of learn and apply, learn and apply.
And, it might be surprising, but it doesn’t always even matter what you do- just that you DO something. Break up your marketing tasks into 10-15 minute actions, and complete 3-5 of them per day. A solid hour of marketing, per day, will help you build your business faster than anything else.
It’s taken me a long time to learn that the best marketing strategies are not the most high profile or intensive ones. Instead, they are the ones that we show up to do, day after day.
- What 3 marketing strategies do you most enjoy? Take a minute and jot them down.
- Which of the 3 can you commit to doing each and every day. Jot that down, too.
- What do you commit to doing this week to move your business forward? Jot that down too.
If you’d care to be held accountable, send me your answers (or just leave a comment below)- and I’ll check in with you next week to see how you’ve done.
