Want to grow? Stop saying these things.

Our words have a way of affecting our actions.

Because words are a reflection of our inner dialogue and experiences, we often say things without realizing the impact they make on our businesses. We also don't realize the root of what we're saying.

There's a famous proverb that says, "As a man thinkith, therefore he is."

#truth

Working with business owners and entrepreneurs, I hear many excuses as to why companies haven't invested in their marketing, or done a better job of managing their marketing strategy and plan.

What I do know, is, every entrepreneur wants to grow. They want to grow revenue, engagement, bottom line, awareness, etc.

So...if that is your desire, then you need to stop saying these 5 things.

1. I don’t have the [fill in the blank] to focus on marketing.

By saying this, you’re implying that marketing is somehow limited to one area or a series of pre-determined actions.

Marketing involves EVERY SINGLE ACTION within your company's experience.

From the way you answer the phone, to your email signature and your headshot on LinkedIn, marketing cannot be put in a box.

When saying you don't have time/money/resources to focus on marketing, you're probably referring to "promotional" things or "planned tactics" such as....

“I don’t have time to create an email newsletter.”

Specificity versus generality.

Watch for it. I guarantee you'll hear it in the office at some point in the next month, “We don’t have the [time/resources/staff/money] to focus on marketing/promotions/social/etc”.

What business owners often mean is, they don't have the time to research, strategize, plan and execute. If you don't have time to plan, you don't have time to succeed. Bring in someone to help (full disclosure - we help companies with this).

There are many great marketing strategists who can help you wrangle your marketing strategy and draft an action plan.

2. I don’t have time to create a [newsletter, other tactic, etc]

Our words have a way of determining our priorities.

When we say we don't have time to create an email newsletter, what we really mean is, “I haven't established this as a high-enough priority to devote my time to it, and I don’t value it enough to hire someone to do it for me.”

If you truly believe in the power of a particular tactic or channel to grow your business, determine the potential value it could bring and either shift your priorities or hire someone to help you execute.

I've seen many companies start a "newsletter" or "campaign" only to give up after a few months. Well-vetted marketing tactics work, but only when executed consistently, with the right message.

One of the reasons entrepreneurs "don't have time" is because marketing (or creating content, promotional things, etc) doesn't come easy.

Why doesn't it come easy? Because you don't have 10,000 hours (yes, I'm referring to the Malcolm Gladwell Outlier's reference).

It doesn't come easy because you haven't developed those skills. You don't have 10,000 hours of experience in marketing. It's new. And you're still trying to figure it out. This makes it even more critical that an outside party helps at least get it started. Do I have 10,000 hours? Yes. Do I have 10,000 hours of experience in accounting? No. That's why I outsource that!

Time is still money, and it takes time to learn something before you can fully deploy the strategies to reap the benefits from that learning.

3. Social media isn't the right place for us.

Many businesses get excited about using social media to promote their products and services, but after the initial excitement wears off, they give up or resort to using it only for last-minute announcements or product blasts (blasts is another word you should stop using…please!).

The problem with this approach is that social media, just like other mediums, requires the selection of the right platform, a strategy, and consistent execution.

Plus, we live in a mobile first environment. I was just in Las Vegas for the American Marketing Association National Conference and by simply watching people, you can see that they're glued to their phone the whole time on, you guessed it, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.

Social is here, but you have to get a strategy and a plan to put it to work for you.

In today's world, with the consumer coming from all different angles, it also requires a multidisciplinary approach -- one that's paired effectively with email campaigns, thought leadership, video, customer onboarding, mobile marketing, and more.

Companies like Starbucks, Nike, and Ford see results on social media because people love their product/service first, and then connect with them on social media.

This goes for all marketing channels, but I'll say it again. "

Stop waiting for ONE THING to be the silver bullet of your marketing plan– spend some time developing a strategy, or get someone to help you, and develop some creative and innovative ways to connect with your audience.

4. I don’t need marketing, I need more leads.

Oh boy. This one should cause a war between marketing departments and sales teams. Sales will complain that marketing isn’t getting them leads, and marketing will complain that sales teams isn't using the messaging, collateral, etc developed by the marketing team.

Instead, squash the war of two worlds by focusing on helping customers and potential customers.

We live in a world where the buyer is at a huge advantage - the keys to the buying process are actually in your customers' hands. Our smartphones or MacBooks open a door to obtaining information about nearly every single product or service on the planet.

Consumers, both B2C and B2B, are already doing their research before they buy!!

Set yourself apart from your competitors by serving as a resource, and anticipating their questions and additional needs before they ask.

This comes in the form of videos, blogs, and posts like these!

When you help, you gain trust. When people trust, they buy.

5. I never look at my analytics. (Or I don't know what they mean)

Many meetings with business owners go like this...

Me: "Do you track the analytics on your website? (or CRM, email campaigns, etc)"

Them: "Yes."

(OR....)

"Yes, I get reports from my agency."

Me: "Ok, what information are you getting? What are you learning from that data? What's working?"

Them: "I don't really know. I don't ever really look at them. But I know we have 'em."

I hear this on a weekly basis from prospective customers. Yikes!

Data is only valuable when it's captured, reviewed for key findings, and put into action. And then the process starts all over again. Data provides trends and insights over time, and what you learn through that data should help you plan your next steps.

What this tells me is – many entrepreneurs don’t know what they should do with the data, or they're intimidated by the idea of charts, data, and marketing graphs. And, instead of digging deeper, it just goes in a file as a "yes we have that".

Analytics on your website, social media pages, email marketing and more can help you determine the effectiveness of your brand message, headlines, audience engagement, audience size, preferences, attention span, and more.

Why spend more time developing content that no one is reading?

• What if the lack of readership is attributed to the wrong type of content for your audience?
• Or the wrong platform?
• Or the wrong time of day for distribution? You won't know without measuring and testing.

Why kill the email campaign when you haven't even tested what the problem is?

• Maybe your headlines stink....
• Maybe you're ending up in the spam filter...
• Maybe you should be sending it from a person rather than a company name...

The list of questions and "what if's" could go on forever, but that's where data comes in.

Analytics can be the key to more effective execution and if you don’t want to look at them, hire someone to do this monthly and have them can share the results and suggestions with you.

____________________

Ali Schwanke is the CEO and Founder of Simple Strat and co-host of the popular small business podcast, Bar Napkin Business. At Simple Strat, we’re redefining marketing as a center for growth – helping brands grow by increasing attention, authenticity, and sales. Utilizing the strategic blueprint process, we sync marketing with business strategy to generate results. Learn more at simplestrat.com. 

If this article was helpful to you or you have any questions, feel free to drop me a note at [email protected] or by tagging me @alischwanke on Twitter.