Marketing Overload? Identify Your Next Marketing Move for Small Business Growth

As a small business owner, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by marketing. Many come to us burnt out from juggling countless tasks. They’re reading marketing books, updating their website, learning SEO, crafting social media content in spare moments, and trying to understand sales funnels.

All of this effort, combined with the barrage of marketing advice out there, can leave them paralyzed, unsure of where to focus next.

And, it’s frustrating when all that hard work doesn’t deliver the results they need. On top of their marketing efforts, they’re still handling the day-to-day demands of running their business and managing personal responsibilities. Feeling like you’re doing everything and not seeing progress can be exhausting—but it doesn’t have to be this way.

On this episode of Priority Pursuit , Victoria and I break down how you can identify your next marketing move for small business growth without feeling overwhelmed or burnt out.

Why is your marketing not working?

If you can relate to these feelings, I want to help you understand the top three reasons why your marketing may not be working and lay out the next steps that you should take when it comes to creating an effective marketing strategy.

There are so many small businesses that are wasting time and money on marketing because of these three simple reasons:?

1. First, they talk about themselves too much. If you look at just about any type of marketing messaging or social media post, you’ll see companies are constantly telling people how great they and their products or services are, and then they expect them to be excited about that. This just wastes time and money because no one likes to feel like they are being sold to.

1. Second, they completely overstimulate and confuse people because they try to tell them too many things at once and they use industry language that just doesn't make any sense—and they usually highlight things that people really don’t care about. Basically, they make it harder for someone to want to buy from them.

1. Third, they make marketing way harder than it needs to be because they don’t have a strategy—so they’re inconsistent and just keep trying one marketing tactic after another—and have no idea why it’s not working.

All of this ends up wasting a lot of time and money on marketing that just doesn’t work. Thankfully, there is an effective way to solve these marketing problems.?

How can you identify your next marketing move for small business growth?

Step 1: Create clear messaging.?

If you’ve listened to a single episode of Priority Pursuit , you likely know what we’re going to say first. But, if you want your marketing to be successful, you have to have clear messaging .?

The fact of the matter is that you can build a stunning website, post a reel a day, implement sales funnels , capitalize on all of the latest trends, and do all of the marketing “things” you’re “supposed” to do. However, all of these efforts and tactics are a waste of time, money, and resources if you don’t know what to say to your ideal customers .?

This is because research shows that people don’t buy the best products and services, they buy the ones they can understand the easiest—which is why clear messaging is the key to successful marketing.?

So, in order to convert prospects into paying customers, you have to know exactly what to say to them, hold their attention, and—ultimately—make them want to do business with you.

Marketing Guiding Statements

The best way to do this is to use a story-based framework to write what we call your “Marketing Guiding Statements.” ? This is because people will be 22 times more likely to remember your business or offer when you use elements of story to frame your messaging.

We’ve talked about Marketing Guiding Statements in many episodes at this point, but in case you aren’t familiar with them, these statements use a story-based framework to position your business as a trusted partner so that people don’t feel like they’re being sold to in your marketing messaging.?

And, when you take the time to create them, you can refer to them as you work on writing website copy , blog posts, social media posts, or developing any other marketing piece so that your marketing is customer-focused—rather than braggy or salesy—and that your messaging has the power to convert your ideal customers.?

Whether you’re just starting a business or you’ve been in business for decades and your marketing isn’t giving you the results you want—clear messaging needs to be your top marketing priority. After all, your messaging ensures your marketing uses the right language in order to be effective.?

Essentially, think of your Marketing Guiding Statements as the GPS of your marketing efforts. Once you write them and make them the cornerstone of your marketing efforts, you’ll more easily get to where you want to go, because all of your marketing materials will be written in a way that allows you to actually connect with your best customers.

Clear up your messaging with our free mini course that walks you through exactly how to write your Marketing Guiding Statements!

Step 2: Build a strategic, lead-generating website.?

Once you have clear messaging , the next thing you need is a strategic, lead-generating website .?

And, before you say, “Great. I have a website,” and check this step off your to-do list, keep listening because your website may need some updates and might be what’s hindering your marketing efforts.??

Your website is your most powerful marketing tool. Now, I do want to be clear that social media, email marketing, and other marketing tactics and tools certainly matter, and we’ll get into those in a little bit. But, your website has to become the foundation of all of your marketing efforts and can be your small business’s most powerful marketing tool.?

This is because at the end of the day, all marketing tools exist to help drive traffic to your website, and your site is where your ideal clients will get the information they need, decide to take action, and are convinced they should buy from you—or at least take the next step in contacting you.?

That said, it isn’t enough just to have a website. So many small business owners assume that if you just slap up a website business will come. But, in order to be your most powerful marketing tool, your website needs to do a couple of things.

1. Your website needs to include the “right” information.?

First, your site needs to serve your ideal clients well by helping them quickly and easily understand what you offer, how you can help solve their problem, and how they can work with you. In other words, your website needs to include the “right” information. Because, if it takes longer than five seconds for website visitors to determine the answers to these questions, they’re practically guaranteed to leave your site—meaning you’ll miss out on business.?

In our experience, there are eight things that every business’s website needs to include to convert site visitors into paying customers. If you’d like to learn what those eight elements are, access our free guide: “8 Things Every Small Business’s Website MUST Include to Convert Visitors into Paying Customers.” ?

Now, when your website includes these eight elements and any other information that is pertinent to your ideal clients, it will be much more likely to attract your ideal customers.?

Basically, when your website includes the right information, it will serve as a 24/7 salesperson that generates business and saves time by filtering out unqualified leads.?

2. Your website needs to be optimized for search engines.?

In addition to including the right information, your website needs to be found where your ideal clients are already likely looking for your products or services: at the top Google search results.?

You see, 97% of people use Google when they’re in need of a product or service. As a result, if you can get your website and business to rank on the first page of Google, you can get your information in front of prospects who are actively searching for—and likely ready to purchase—exactly what you have to offer.?

Basically, when your website ranks at the top of Google search results, you don’t have to spend so much of your time going after new leads. Instead, many of your strongest leads will start coming to you through Google.?

With this in mind, if you’ve yet to optimize your websites for search engines, this needs to be your next step.?

What is SEO?

SEO (which stands for search engine optimization) is a free process that helps your website rank well on Google (or other search engines) when users conduct searches related to your products, services, or content.?

As a side note, SEO only works if your website serves your customers well. If your site isn’t built well and doesn’t include the right information, it isn’t going to convert website visitors into paying customers—which we just discussed. SEO can get people to your website but it can’t convert them. So, don’t waste your time doing SEO work if you don’t have a site that serves your ideal customers well.?

That said, if you’re going to spend time and/or money on a website, you’re short-changing yourself if your site isn’t optimized for search engines because you’re limiting the reach of your site. So, these two things—including the right information and SEO—go hand in hand.?

Now, there are a lot of moving parts to a successful SEO strategy, and I'm not going to get into the technicalities in this episode. However, if you want to learn exactly how to optimize your website for Google, go back and listen to “Episode 106: How to Optimize Your Website for Search Engines .”

But, once you have clear messaging and a website that includes the right information and that ranks well on search engines, you're essentially going to have a very solid marketing foundation for your small business.?

?3. Create content & a sales funnel that serve your ideal client well.

The next thing I want to encourage you to focus on or invest in is a content marketing strategy that puts prospects into a sales funnel.?

First of all, a sales funnel is simply a content marketing framework that takes potential customers to paying customers. Essentially, it allows you to serve your prospects, build trust with them, and help them see that your product or service is the answer to the problem they’re facing.

To clarify, a sales funne l is not a sales pitch. With a sales pitch, you are trying to seal the deal. However, with a sales funnel, you are empowering potential customers to solve their problem by acting as their guide before you go in for the sale.?

And, sales funnels are important and highly effective because they allow you to build relationships with your ideal audience and guide them through the natural phases of a relationship so that they want to do business with you.

This is important because nobody likes to be sold to. In fact, going straight for the sale is the equivalent of laying eyes on someone for the first time ever, walking up to them, getting down on one knee, and asking them to marry you. It’s uncomfortable, not appropriate, and not likely to end well.?

However, a sales funnel is more like dating. Essentially, by providing your prospects with the content and information they need to get to know you and to see how your product or service can make their life better, they’ll naturally want to purchase from you.?

Now, in all honesty, there are quite a few moving parts to building a successful sales funnel. if this is the next marketing step that you need to focus on, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to “Episode 114: How to Build a Sales Funnel as a Small Business,” which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts.?

Most of your site visitors aren’t going to convert immediately. However, when you have an effective sales funnel, you can get email addresses, keep the conversation going, and make yourself six times more likely to convert leads into customers.?

4. Promote your products, services, & content.?

After you have clear messaging , a strategic website , and a sales funnel , the next step you want to take is promoting your products, services, and content.?

And, you can do this with organic social media, digital ads, and email marketing. This isn’t to say there aren’t other options, but we’ve found these tactics or tools to be the most effective options for small businesses.

That said, once you get to the promotion step, where you focus your energy and resources very much depends on your ideal client and your business goals. While we’ve found these tactics to work well for small businesses, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start using all of them tomorrow—or ever for that matter. You simply need to use the tools that make the most sense for your audience and goals.?

For example, you don’t have to be on every social media platform. You simply want to make sure you’re utilizing and focusing on the platforms your ideal client uses.?

In this step, you need to determine where or how you’re going to promote your products, services, and content. Again, we recommend at least considering organic social media, digital ads (Google and social media ads), and email marketing.?

Then, in order to determine your next marketing step, you need to decide which of these options is going to best help you meet your goals.?

Now, chances are, you should be using most of these tools in some capacity—unless your ideal client is opposed to social media—for instance. But, the fact of the matter is that as a small business, your resources—whether they be time or money—are limited. As a result, you want to prioritize the promotion outlets that will give you the most return on your investment.?

If we could sit down, have a cup of coffee, and dive into your business, I would love to give you specific recommendations . However, in case this helps, I want to give you a few blanket recommendations.?

Social Media

First of all, if your ideal client is on social media, organic social media should be a priority. Chances are, your ideal clients are on social media every single day, and even if organic social media doesn’t have as much reach as it once did, social media gives you a chance to show up where your ideal clients are hanging out on a daily basis.?

Again, you don’t have to be on every social media platform. You just need to hone the platforms that your ideal client uses. I'm not going to get into all of this today. However, I highly recommend going back and listening to “Episode 119: A Simple Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses.” In this episode, Angel, our content director, makes social media simple.?

Email Marketing

Now, while social media is important, there’s a good chance you’ll see a bigger return on your investment with email marketing .?

Email has again and again proven to be the best marketing channel in terms of ROI for small businesses. In fact, according to AgencyAnalytics , “It's estimated that email generates $36 for every $1 spent.” That’s a 3500% ROI. On the other hand, social media generates an estimated return of $2.80 for every dollar spent. That’s a huge difference!?

When you just hear the numbers, I know this can seem shocking, but when you stop to think about updated social media algorithms, it really isn’t surprising.

Fewer than 10% of your followers will likely see your organic social media posts. However, email allows you to communicate directly with your audience, and your emails are more or less guaranteed to end up in prospects’ inboxes, making email a direct line of communication between you and prospective customers who have already expressed interest in your products or services. They’ve already shared their email address with you, so you know that they’re warm leads.?

That said, in order to see success with email marketing , you have to actually have an email list. Your sales funnel is going to help you build your email list, and you can certainly see success with a small list. However, this is something to keep in mind if you’re trying to determine the next best step for YOUR small business. Putting all your promotion eggs in the email marketing basket might not be the right choice at this moment. This might be something you prioritize after systematizing your other promotion outlets.?

Because, again, if we’re just talking about your next step and not everything you will ideally eventually do to market your small business, you want to focus on whatever is going to give you the biggest ROI.?

Social Media & Google Ads

Last but not least, you should consider running social media ads and/or Google ads to promote your business and content.?

While organic social media’s reach may be down, social media advertising is highly effective for a lot of small businesses.

Now, just like with organic social media, with social media ads , you don’t need to be on every platform. Instead, put your time and money into the channels where your ideal clients are already spending their time.

I highly recommend utilizing social media ads and Google ads for a few reasons.?

1. Social Media Ads

Social media advertising is highly targeted and actually makes reaching your ideal customers easy. I mean, with most traditional media options—take print ads for example—you don’t have a lot of control over who sees your advertisements. Yes, you can choose specific publications or outlets that your ideal customers consume and send mailers. But, to an extent, with print ads, you invest in an ad and then have to hope and pray the right people see it and take the next step.?

But, with social media ads , you can specifically target your best customers and ensure your ads only appear to the people you want to connect with. For example, as you set up your ads, you can specify things like age, gender, interests, and more so that you know that every dollar you spend is helping you reach your ideal clients. And, you can even use retargeting options so that those who have shown interest in your products or services will see your ads again and again.

Basically, if your ideal clients are on social media, chances are, running social media ads is only going to help you better reach them.?

2. Google Ads?

Speaking of paid advertising, Google ads can also work really well for small businesses.?

As we discussed when we talked about SEO, when people are looking for a product or service or if they have a question, most turn to Google.?

Now, while prioritizing your organic ranking—meaning where your website and content rank on Google as free listings—I also recommend utilizing Google ads , because you can essentially ensure that your website is listed first in search results, making it much more likely that your ideal clients will find you.?

But, that said, Google ads don’t necessarily work well for all small businesses. It really depends on who your target audience is, who your competitors are, and what your budget is.?

But, we’ve found Google ads to be especially helpful for local businesses, meaning businesses with physical locations or service areas. 97% of people use Google when they’re in search of a local product or service. As a result, Google ads are a very strategic promotion tool.

Google ads also work well for niche, online businesses. Essentially, because big businesses use Google ads, it can be hard to compete with their Google ad budgets. So, if you have big-business competitors, this likely isn’t a great promotion tool for you—unless you have a big ad budget. However, for businesses with specific niches, Google ads can deliver big results.?

I know that there’s almost nothing more frustrating than trying one marketing tactic after another without seeing results. As a result, I hope this episode has given you some direction. At the very least, I hope it’s helped you identify the next step you need to take to improve the effectiveness of your marketing.?

That said, if you’d like a more personalized assessment, I want to encourage you to take our small business marketing assessment . This quiz will take you about three minutes to complete and will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your current marketing efforts and strategy.?

The assessment will help you determine which aspects of your marketing are working well, where there’s room for improvement, and where you should be focusing your resources.?

Take our free, 3-minute marketing assessment !

View the original blog post here .