Being a business owner is hard. It's your baby, and you have to manage everything. You might have a small team that works with you. But still, keeping the lights on - that falls to you.

Bring in more customers. Make more sales. That's the name of the game.

To do that, you have to be more deliberate with how you are marketing your business online.

Easy to say. Hard to do.

I get it.

You need to spend time learning and doing digital marketing ON TOP of all the other things you have to do? No ma'am.

When I first start working with someone, I begin with a conversation and three main questions. 

 

1. What are you doing now?

What are you doing now, and what have you done in the past? It's important to look at the tactics you are doing RIGHT NOW.

Then you'll be able to shift time, budget, and energy.

Write a simple list. It could be anything you've done not just digital marketing. It could be anything: billboards, ads in local papers, Craigslist, social media, blogging, buying online advertising, etc. Next to the tactics you've tried, write whether you are currently doing them, or did them in the past.

Now look at the list and ask: What worked? What didn't? How do you know? What did you enjoy doing? What was like pulling teeth?

Anything that isn't working, nix. Anything that is, scale. Not sure? Begin a measurement strategy so that you can evaluate it.

 

Measure What You Did Or Are Doing

If you look at your list and don't know what worked and what didn't, there's a problem. Every marketing activity should be paired with a success metric.

For instance, if you are blogging, your measurement might be the number of blog subscribers you have. Then, it would be great to track who of your blog subscribers are actual customers. Then you will begin to see if your blog is working and if that customer subscriber list is growing, all the better.

Running a social media deal? Make sure you have a unique code to track how often it was used.

 

2. Who is your current customer? 

Who's your customer? Who do you want that to be? These two questions might not have the same ultimate answer. That's fine.

 

Build Out A Plan To Know Your Customer

Always start with what you have. Do you have a customer relationship management (CRM) tool? What technology are you using in-store or on your website to manage your customers? Did your marketing team trigger a survey at some point?

Gather all the data you have on them and take a look through it.

Pro Tip: Do some interviews with customers that you think are your best customers!

People love sharing their opinion. Having a quick 15 minute conversation with a customer is the quick and dirty way to understand them.

Once you've gathered your data you'll have a basis to build a persona for your ideal customer. A persona is a semi-fictitious representation of what your ideal customer will be. Once you know this, you'll know how to make messages that will resonate. You'll also be more aware of where to broadcast those messages.

 

3. How Comfortable Are You With Technology?

It's ok. You're busy. You're running your business with everything you got, and the best leaders are the ones who know how to find the right people to help them. 

 

And If You Don't Want To Deal With It...

Look at your organization and see if there's someone near you that might be interested in taking on additional responsibilities. If there is no one, think about getting building a network of freelancers. This network will support you once you are ready to start implementing tactics that you've identified.