By Michele Scism
The Results Lady
What is your business? I actually wish you could tell me and some day maybe you will but in the meantime I am thinking that you probably said something like “I sell ***.” I sell books or I sell flowers or maybe you said I do peoples taxes or I am a photographer.
Do you remember our discussion about “Freelancers” vs. “Business Owners” on page 15? Those are freelancer answers. (This doesn't make sense at this moment but this is an excerpt from my book.)
“You are in the business of marketing your services (products) first and delivering your services (products) second.” ~Adam Urbanski
Business today is not only about selling. It is about marketing and building relationships with your customers. However, there are a lot of businesses that do not understand this process and fail miserably. The Small Business Administration reports that half of all small businesses fail within the first five years.
So what is your current marketing plan? I recently spoke to several business owners and got mostly two answers:
I don’t have one!
Word of Mouth!
If you have read my e-book “6 Simple Steps to Business Explosion for the Woman Business Owner” you know that my opinions are strong about this subject. To have a successful business not having a workable plan is not an option and word of mouth is not a workable plan.
Marketing is simply the way you promote your business, services and/or products. Unfortunately the word terrifies many business owners because it tends to have such a negative connotation in today’s world. They think of marketing as manipulation or trickery. Dictionary.com defines manipulate as “to manage or influence skillfully in an unfair way.” But good marketing actually motivates not manipulates. Dictionary.com defines motivate as “to provide with an incentive; move to action; impel.”
The problem for most women entrepreneurs is wrapping their mind around the fact that marketing is motivation and not manipulation. If you are selling a reputable product or service and you believe in your product then it is your duty to share the necessary information with your customer to motivate them to purchase something that they need or want.
“Good marketing actually motivates not manipulates” ~Michele Scism
Hey Melanie – You are so right. Knowing your ideal client or customer is pivotal. The more you know about them the better. We usually think of thinks like location, age, sex, income but I heard someone the other day who described her ideal client to the point of what movies they watched, that they supported charities, that they liked to ride bikes. It made me think about my ideal cients. It doesn’t mean that if they don’t watch “You’ve Got Mail” that they can’t be your client it just means that you can make them seem real to you and your marketing efforts are improved.
Thanks as always for commenting! I appreciate your support and can’t wait to be your guest blogger on Monday. Michele