Part one: Investing in Marketing
Like many of you, when I first started my retail business, I could barely afford the very small retail space that I was renting and I took on all the jobs: I was the owner, the salesperson, the buyer, the financial officer, the marketer, the customer service representative, the cleaner, etc. – I could not yet afford anyone to help me, since I could barely afford to pay myself! But with patience and through successful marketing strategies that I implemented, in small steps over the years (and as my budget allowed!), I was eventually able to expand my rental space by sixfold and grow the revenue of the business to the point of being able to employ 5 people and give myself the salary that I felt I deserved. 😊
How did I attain this? I will focus on one of the strategies that worked for me and my small business in this post and will follow up with others in subsequent posts. Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration in my story which may be helpful to you and your business.
First Strategy: Investing in Marketing
This might seem like a no-brainer for some of you, but it might also seem like the last thing that to want to spend time and/or money on for others. Marketing is often ignored or put on the bottom of the list, as a “if I have extra time or money” type of thing. I get it and I often felt like that myself. There are so many other things that you might feel that you want or need to spend that little extra profit or extra time on, since you are already taking on every job!
But ignoring this vital part to your business’ growth may mean losing out on potential revenue and having your business stagnate or worse, decline.
What are your business goals?
- Start by sitting down and writing down your specific goal(s) for the next 3 to 6 months or a year.
- Be specific, don’t just say “I want to increase sales”, but more like “I want to increase the number of conversions (to sales) on my online shop” or “I want to increase traffic to my website”, for example.
- Having clear goals helps set the direction and tone for everything else that you will do from then on for your business.
Don’t know how to determine your short to medium-term business goals? CLICK HERE to download my free checklist to help get you started.
How will you attain these goals? This is where the investment comes in.
- A good rule of thumb for small businesses is to invest 1 to 5% of total annual revenue on marketing – to develop and implement marketing strategies.
- Start small and focus on the immediate and short-term goals, and then change, add and tweak as time goes on.
The first thing that I invested in (when the technology allowed it) was a website. Having an online presence with relevant content is important for potential clients to find you and give credibility to your business and/or brand. Maybe you already have a website? Then take the time to closely examine it and make sure that the content is still relevant and don’t forget to keep it up to date.Getting help from a marketing specialist is also where that small investment in getting your business to grow will come in. A freelance marketing specialist will take on that marketing task for you, so you don’t have to. They will develop and execute a marketing strategy to obtain your specific goals, all while getting the most out of your specific budget. That’s one last thing to worry about! 😉
