Do-It-Yourself Digital Marketing - 30 minutes a day.

5 Actionable DIY Digital Marketing steps (plus 1 bonus step) for Entrepreneurs, small business owners and start-ups.

“We don’t have the budget to go hire professional digital marketeers”.

“We do our own marketing but there are critical things that we must do first…..”.

“We are running paid ads on google and Facebook…. but the result is poor”.

These are some of the opening statements I get when entrepreneurs, small/solo companies and start-ups founders/co-founders approach me with a SOS call for help.

I was talking to Anna the other day…. She is an entrepreneur and has a killer B2B service concept and is very determined to lead her start-up to make an impact. She is a qualified, passionate, ambitious and a smart young girl. She has also been recognized as the most-promising woman entrepreneur of the year in 2016.

When I met her, she was juggling with product development, administrative and financial activities. Some major and some minor decisions were to be made as on yesterday! I can actually see some of nodding your head in empathy.All entrepreneurs have been there.

When I asked her about her marketing strategy, she smiled and confidently replied that they were a new age company and were completely digital.

Wow! This kind of answer excites me… well why wouldn’t it?

It is simple. It needs a low investment, multiple channels are available and most young people have the tool kit as a part of their DNA to implement it. This generation exists and thrives on social media and their grasp of digital is natural.

So, when I scratched the surface a bit…… the pain oozed out!! Ugh!!

She did start Facebook ads and Google AdWords. It was simple she said. But then didn’t have time to analyse or improve on ROI. Ouch!

She also has a blog and writes articles occasionally but has no time to engage with her readers or check on effectiveness. She missed the direction completely as she wrote about her products and services without giving a thought about what the readers were interested in or looking for. Don't you know many big brands doing this…..

I call it carpet bombing. Bomb the entire area, and hope that a few of the victims could be our targets :P

When I brought to her notice a few glaring loopholes, she agreed sheepishly and defended that she was aware of the gaps, and this was the best she could do given her limitations of time. She confided in a low tone, “sometimes I feel we are running around like headless chicken on steroids!”. After an in-depth discussion I could understand her situation that she really didn’t have the budget to hire a professional either on rolls or outsource the work.

While we were talking about this, she suddenly stopped, looked directly in my eye and said, “well why don’t you just give me clear short tips…. and I’ll do it. But no BS please”

This article for is for you Anna.

Step 1:   Identify.

Take some time to identify who your target audience is and where they are generally found. There is no point in doing everything under the sun to stretch your resources. It may prove to be counter-intuitive.

a.      Anna is in to B2B services. As per her target’s demographic profile, the primary platform to be focused is LinkedIn.

Step 2:   Build credibility.

Credibility come with authoritative content. So, comes the age-old question of type of content. Yes, we all know quality content in good quantity is ideal. But the cost of generating quality content is formidable.

a.      I have suggested to Anna a mix of created and curated content with a dash of smart engagement.

Step 3:   Distribute.

What good is you content if no one reads it. Here is where your key to success lies. Use ads and influencers at this stage to take your message to your audience. Right place. Right time. Right readers.

a.      I’ve recommended to Anna to spend money on Ads on platforms where her target audience frequents, only if she can spend time to monitor, analyse and optimize the ads or wait till she can hire a professional for it.

Step 4:   Analyse & Optimize.

It is like taking the effort to marinade chicken with exotic ingredients and then forgetting about it. It rots away in your refrigerator waiting to be cooked and consumed. Good content can be made great with right amount of nurturing. Analyzing and optimizing existing content is what a lot of us don’t think about. Existing articles with added viewpoints or follow-up on certain ideas are cool ways of rejuvenating content. 

a.      Anna found a couple of well-received essays that she submitted as assignments and decided to rejuvenate them. Did I not mention earlier that Anna is smart!!

Step 5:   Schedule.

Yes, this one is really simple, maybe not easy as it requires discipline. Plan and implement. Make a 30-minute slot in your schedule every day. It will take you a long long way and maybe save you big bucks enroute. Every entrepreneur needs to know beforehand what is to be done in those 30 minutes. If required, get help from a specialist to strategize your schedule. But use it effectively. No cute cat videos please!!.... unless created by you for your cat food business!!

a.      I’ve created a smart template for Anna to use and reuse week after week. Last I spoke with her, she is enjoying the de-linking of ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ processes.

These are my top 5 suggestions for Anna, small business owners, entrepreneurs, start-up founders, co-founders. Here is a bonus tip which is obvious and most frequently ignored in the rush of doing everything.

Step 6(Bonus):   Branding.

This is the thread that stitches everything together. Don’t ever ignore it. Its not about overpowering insignia plastered everywhere. It could be as subtle as using consistent fonts and colors or maintaining tonality and keeping in mind customer experience. Over or under doing it can definitely have negative repercussions. It must be just right or as it is called in Swedish – ‘lagom’.

Disclaimer: If your profile matches Anna, and you think I should not have publicly spoken about your story, let me assure you that you are one of thousands of entrepreneurs across the world sailing in the same boat.

If you can relate with my article do ‘like’, but most importantly tag the ‘Anna’you know who is overworked and can benefit from these tips. Maybe she will have time to go out for coffee with you!

Psst…..You can also ask for the template I created for Anna. I'll send it to you free!! All you need to do is type 'template' and your email id in the comments section.