How to start small with marketing – my advice to those just starting out

What I’d give to go back and provide 18-year-old Leah with some marketing tips. I’ve been in marketing for over a decade now and while I’ve been responsible for several success stories, I’ve also seen how marketers can quickly become overwhelmed.

There are just so many options available to us. The more avenues you have, the higher your chances of something slipping.

I think this is especially true for new starters or entrants. Marketing has evolved into a complicated beast. But that doesn’t mean the basics no longer work.

You don’t want to get ahead of yourself. There’s nothing wrong with starting small in the early days. There are a few essentials I’d go with first, before embarking on dramatic rebrands or viral campaigns.

Figure out what you can fit into the hours you have and work on your time-management

We’re struggling to fit in everything we’ve got to do already. You’ll want to get on top of your current workload before you overload yourself with any additional projects.

Time management has become a big issue in my own industry. We regularly hear from burnt-out brokers who are struggling with 18-hour days. In fact, for anyone who works in an office, as many as 1 in 10 of them are skipping lunch just to keep things moving. Thousands of us can’t even spare an hour to eat.

And we want to introduce 4-day weeks? I’d love a 3-day weekend, but I’m not sure we’re collectively ready.

As much as everyone would like to, most simply won’t have time to come up with an all-encompassing marketing plan which hits every target market possible. This is especially true for newbies who are just trying to find their feet.

You’ll need to identify just how much time you’ve got. Time is the most precious commodity we have. Use it wisely.

If you’re starting up, you’ll need to be a bit selective. Focus the time you have on the essentials – identifying your market, discovering how to best target them, tailoring your products to their needs.

Once you’re on top of all this, you may find you have a spare hour or two to plan and take your strategy to the next level.

Focus on the right platforms

Marketing is digital now. There’s no getting away from it. Your campaigns will need to incorporate link-building, SEO, and email lists.

Fortunately, there are many platforms out there that can help you with this. Unfortunately, there are many platforms out there that can help you with this.

Your audience will be online somewhere. It’ll be up to you to figure out where though. This isn’t an area for a scattergun approach. You’ll want to be much more targeted.

For example, take my current obsession – TikTok. TikTok is booming right now, it’s taken over the social world and is leaving its rivals in the dust. But, TikTok’s user base is very young. Only a fraction are middle aged or older. If you’re marketing a pension product or a retirement home, you may not get very far here.

On the flip side is Facebook. Dubbed by many to be cheugy (Gen Z speak for out of date or no longer cool, apparently), it still has 3 billion users. Many of them will be older, and more likely to have greater wealth or larger estates. This may be where you want to pitch your IFA’s services, and avoid selling the latest trendy trainers – or whatever it is teenagers are into these days.??

Ease into social media

Speaking of social, start with what you know. The technology and momentum behind social media moves so fast that often, by the time you’ve caught up, it’s too late. Trends and hashtags are the worst for this.

Diet-related content on TikTok for example is popular. But posts with the “#WhatIEatInADay” hashtag have over 16 billion views between them and counting. What are the chances that a PT who provides the same content as everyone else will be able to monetise something from this, or stand out at all?

Also, things can go wrong very quickly. Google recently admitted it needed to go back and “rigorously test” its highly anticipated new chatbot. A promotional tweet had an embarrassing error, which eventually cost Alphabet $100bn.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a contingency budget that stretches into the billions for fixing AI mistakes.

Again, if you’re starting up, focus on what’s easy to manage and execute. A small Facebook group, simple Twitter thread, or LinkedIn article may be all that’s needed to get the ball rolling.

Excel is your best friend

To manage all this, you only really need one piece of software to start with. I truly believe the world runs on Excel. Even now, it’s my go-to tool for lots of new projects.

I’m not alone here either. A survey from last year showed 66% of office workers use Excel at least once per hour. Also, around 38% of office workers’ time is spent on Excel.

It’s unbelievable just how much you can do with Excel. You can get your budget ready in mere minutes, create a marketing plan for the rest of the year, and even design games if that’s what you’re into!

You don’t need to fork out on fancy marketing software in the early stages of your career. Chances are, you can do everything you need to and more with Excel.

Take the time to learn its ins and outs. If you’re not confident, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials and free articles out there providing guidance.

Tailor your content effectively, and don’t be afraid to ask for help

Ultimately, most of your efforts will result in some form of content – an advert, a brochure, a podcast etc. It can be easy to get carried away and try to target everyone all at once. But you need to remember your niche. If your company services first-time buyers, focus your content on them.

Write an article about how they can navigate the current market. Create a digital poster that clearly breaks down your product’s USPs. Provide relatable case studies which show you understand the challenges your audience is facing.

This may sound daunting, but you can share the workload. You’d be amazed at the willingness of others in your industry to collaborate on content. People like to be quoted. They’ll always be chuffed being referred to as an expert in the field. This is an easy way to build backlinks to your site too. Tag everyone you can. It’s reciprocal.

If you’re worried about the cost of all this – don’t be. Even if you have no budget to play with, there are free versions of useful software out there.

Like I said, Excel could be your initial base of operations. But you can use Canva for designs, Grammarly for editing, and Mailchimp for targeting – all for free!

Look, I’ve been there. I faced an uphill struggle at the start of my career. I’m lucky enough to have succeeded with the help of others. Now it's my turn to pay it forward.