It's been almost a year since we hung a shingle (more first anniversary news coming soon!) to officially launch TL.Authentic. I've learned a LOT from the entrepreneurs and small businesses I have connected and worked with in the past eleven months. It has been an interesting, grateful, upward curve filled with plentiful future benefits.
There have been topics and tactics I've executed and employed - then measured, new ones learned, and am still learning - SemRush is my current obsession, and of all of the mediums and channels in the universe of small business marketing, and the businesses I've spoken with and worked with, the singlest biggest takeaway I've come to is this:
You cannot advance to go and collect $200 - UNLESS YOU LAY THE GROUNDWORK TO GET THERE.
What in the world am I referring to? Let me explain.
SEO and social and AI and the next big thing in marketing your business and reaching your target audience have most entrepreneurs and business owners scrambling to keep up. Posting and stories and content and keywords and analytics and Google and ChatGPT....oh my! It can be exhausting and confusing and EXPENSIVE.
I've met numerous business owners who have dropped $2k - 5k per month, or more, with a social media firm, digital marketing guru or SEO wizard, and ended up close to broke and with no more followers, product sold or boots through the door than they started with - let alone any reports to even show what they did and how it grew the business for the investment. These on the surface, super-hip, on the front edge, service providers are the current bright, shiny objects of the business world, and we throw money at them to help us with the things we don't know, can't keep up with and are gosh-darned intimidated by.
I'm here to tell you that I completely get it and I know why you're doing it. FOMO is real. It's a lot to understand, figure out, and manage, let alone run your business.
So what's a proactive entrepreneur to do? Skip digital? Forego social media? Close your eyes to SEO and hope you magically land on page 1? Absolutely not!
What you need to do is LAY THE GROUNDWORK.
What do I mean? Pull together your team - even if it's you and the dog, or colleagues that work on opposite sides of the country or world, block the time, and sit down to discuss, construct and produce a foundational, strategic marketing plan. Collect and review the data, assess the competition, think about your brand, hone in on the who, understand the tools you'll need, develop offerings, net out desired profit margins and put together a budget - BEFORE you hire the bright, shiny experts, wizards and gurus, or if you figure out you need them at all.
Does this work need to take weeks or months? Absolutely not. Do many businesses skip this part in a rush to get started and get seen? In my experience, yes. Is it essential to advancing to go - and collecting $200? Without a doubt, unequivocally YES.
To entice you to consider or reconsider carving out the time and effort to develop a foundational strategic marketing plan, here's what sits on the other side of doing this intentional work:
A strategic marketing roadmap constructed from thought, data, experience and purpose that will lead your business step-by-step, logically and thoughtfully to the intended destination - whether that's selling a product, growing membership, getting boots through the door, or realizing social media, finally, as a tool to grow your business versus just an online album of gorgeous images. No more excessive spends on unknowns or worrying about what to do next and when. SEO, social media, website, email and more, all with focused, targeted strategies, all working together to move your business forward.
Is it too late to get started if you're already in business or in-contract? Of course not. Here's what you need to do to move forward:
First, Collect data: Gather all information you are able to request or access about your business including:
Website analytics
Keyword research and performance
Social media insights
Email performance
Customer database & validity
Not sure where to begin? TL.Authentic can help. Book a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call today and let's explore where you are and where you want to go. Take the time. Do the work. Make a plan. Then, Advance to Go.