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When I was a kid, my dad bought a tiny sailboat and took me and my brothers out to the lake on weekends to sail. I have the most vivid memories of the boat tipping to one side as it sliced through the water, threatening to go all the way over. As I watched the edge of the boat lean over until it was almost even with the surface of the lake, I thought for sure we were going down. Just at the last moment, my dad would call “Boom!” and turn the boat away from what I was sure would be sweet catastrophe. What an adventure for an eight-year-old!
Lately I’ve been thinking about buying a sailboat and taking my own little one out to have the same thrills I did.
Then I thought, “Why shouldn’t this be a marketing opportunity?”
One thing that keeps people from staying in action toward bringing in new business is that they get bored with their marketing. Most entrepreneurs thrive on new challenges, and getting the phone to ring can certainly be a challenge. But once they’ve learned one piece of the puzzle and then put it into practice, it can become routine and lose its edge. Enough puzzle pieces like that can make the whole thing drudgery.
I often say that marketing is nothing more than two things: Building Strong Relationships and Clearly Communicating Your Message. Outside of those necessary components, it can look any way you want it to look. No activity or technique is out of bounds, as long as it helps to further connection between you and your clients-to-be, and help them understand how you can help them.
When I’m working with clients to choose marketing strategies, I tell them there should be only two criteria to consider: 1. will they be effective? and 2. are they things you really want to do?
Take public speaking for example. This can be one of the most effective ways to attract attention to your business. But if you don’t enjoy it, not only will you dread those speaking engagements, your dislike of that form of marketing will come through energetically, and taint the message you intend to put out there.
On the other hand, you may not write the most brilliant marketing copy all the time, but if you like the process of getting ideas, stories, and other helpful information on the page and delivered to your audience, two great things will occur as a result. You’ll actually follow through on that activity, and the way you communicate what you want to say will be enhanced by your enthusiasm and creativity.
This is all to say that you should feel free to give yourself complete permission to market any way that works for you, as long as it works.
Imagine you are consistently attracting new clients, month after month, and year after year. After a while it becomes effortless, but not routine. You get to employ your sense of innovation and creativity, and fun. Imagine you really enjoy doing the things that bring you new business.
What’s the key?
Creativity, Experimentation, and Fun
There are as many ways to get your message to your target market as there are people out there. Rather than have me list them for you, let’s have you use that brilliant creativity of yours. Try this exercise.
1. Sit down (I guess you could do this standing if you prefer) and write down every single activity you enjoy. Don’t worry about whether it relates to your business or not, or whether you think they’re not appropriate ways to market your services. The point is to just look at the things you love and get yourself into a state of mind of taking pleasure in everything you do.
2. Now take the list, and circle anything on it that has even the remotest possibility for becoming a marketing strategy. Keep an open mind. Remember that marketing is nothing more than Building Strong Relationships and Clearly Communicating Your Message, so any activity that allows you to do those things is appropriate. We’re not settling on anything here, just exploring.
3. Now get a little more practical (but not too much), and find the top four to six activities that fit the above criteria, and that you could use as effective marketing techniques. Write up a plan for each activity, detailing how you will get into action with it.
4. Follow through. Do it, for real. I tell my clients that the businesses that succeed the most are the ones that fail the most, because they’ve been willing to take risks, and, in the words of Thomas Edison, “find ninety-nine ways not to make a light bulb.”
Look back at the idea of buying a sailboat. It may not be for you, but there’s no reason I couldn’t take a prospective client out for an afternoon to sail around the lake. It would be a great way to build the relationship, and provides me with many opportunities to communicate, even more deeply than usual.
Or my experimenting with shooting videos. A few years ago, I never imagined I could shoot little movie clips of myself and post them to my website, blog (coming soon?), and video sharing sites. I certainly never thought I could do it all for free, just by setting up my camera on a tripod in the back yard and pressing record. But when I wanted to send a movie of Daphne’s graduation from kindergarten to her grandparents, I realized the infinite possibilities for reaching people in new ways.
Here’s the bottom line: marketing need not be something you dread or avoid. Find fun new ways to get yourself and your message out there, find fun in the activities you already employ, and no matter what, always take pleasure in the way you run your business. You’ll have better results because prospects will respond to your positive energy and you’ll be a lot happier along the way.
Until next time, here’s to loving your life, your business, and even your marketing.
RJ |
