'I need to do more marketing, but...'

This week I was asked for some tips to help Mums who are struggling to market their businesses whilst serving their customers and home-schooling their children. I know it’s not just Mums who face this challenge so hopefully this article will help if this is a problem you share.

Be realistic

We all know we should be marketing consistently to avoid the peaks and troughs in business, but we only have 24 hours in a day. Be realistic about how much time you can actually spend on your marketing.

I mean realistic, not optimistic, not what you wish, but what you can really commit to.

I mean commit to without having to ignore the family, starve or burn the midnight oil.

Could you find a few hours once a month? Or maybe you could manage a few minutes every day? Block that time in your diary, now.

The next step is to use that time where it will have most impact. To decide that you may want to work your way through a few questions…

Your business

•  Can you trade currently?
• Can you trade but with restrictions on your normal offer? E.g. the beauty salon that can offer hairdressing appointments but not facials.
• Are you going to be able to trade in the coming weeks?
• Are you going to wait until at least September, possibly later, to start trading again?

What, if any, changes have you made, or will you make, to your offer?

How much do your customers and prospects know about what you are doing currently?

Your customers

Where are your customers right now?

• Still locked down at home with their families. (Remember some families are choosing to remain in lockdown even where restrictions have been eased.)
• Home schooling one or more children
• Working from home
• Back in their normal place of work
• Furloughed
• They’ve been made redundant or fearing they will be shortly
• Recovering from the virus
• Still fighting the virus
• Are they in a paralysing state of anxiety?

Has your customers’ need for your product or service changed? Has their ability to buy changed? Have their spending priorities changed?

Determining your priorities

Unless yours is a brand-new business your priorities should probably be…

1.      Your existing customers. Unless what you’re selling is a once only purchase customer retention should be your number one priority.

Your existing customers are the most likely people to buy from you and, with some encouragement, they will tell their friends and contacts about you.

Even for the once only purchase you should make an effort to stay in touch.

2.      Potential customers who have already started their buying journey with you.

These include people who have downloaded your lead magnet, signed up for your mailing list or opted in for a discovery call.

It could include people who have subscribed to your blog, podcast, or video channel.

3.      Attracting new prospects will be a higher priority for new businesses or for those with a high proportion of impulse purchases.

Whilst most businesses will want to attract a steady stream of new prospects the payback is likely to be much slower than converting people who have travelled further in their buying journey.

To maintain your visibility you may need to work smarter not harder.

Two more things to think about before you develop your action plan

1. Is your evergreen content still relevant and appropriate? Consider both the message and the tone of voice.
2. How has the way your customers and prospects spend their days changed?

Social media has seen significant increases in traffic as people spend more time at home? People are spending more time watching videos. Livestreaming is ‘in’.

How will this impact on the marketing you do? For example, should you go live on Facebook or LinkedIn and then upload the recording to YouTube?

I’m conscious that this article raises far more questions than it answers! Only you will know the right answers for your business. However, working your way through the questions will help you to work out what messages you need to convey, to whom, when and where. You can then make sure that you spend your limited time on the right things to have the most impact.

In my next article I’ll share some different ideas for marketing you can do for different audiences within the time you have available. If you can’t wait that long then keep an eye on my LinkedIn posts for some ideas.

Glenda Shawley is a Marketing Consultant and Trainer and MD of Fabulous Networking. She is also author of Founded After 40: how to start a business when you haven't got time to waste. She likes nothing better than helping real people to start and grow a business on their own terms.