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The
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EXPENSIVE E T K I N R G A M MISTAKES SMALL
BUSINESSES MAKE (AND HOW TO AVOID THEM!)
AMANDA K. LARRINAGA
Amanda K. Larrinaga
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE (AND HOW TO AVOID THEM!)
After 10 years of building and managing local marketing systems, you can rest assured I’ve made every mistake in the book. And I want to share those missteps and mistakes with you, alongside specific tactics to help you avoid the trials and errors I faced. It took me years to learn these tactics, so please, take this page out of my playbook and apply it to your business today so you can implement it, instantly, to your local marketing system.
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MISTAKE #1: OVERLOOKING CUSTOMER CLARITY
Ignore this one at your own peril. It is hands-down the one thing that can ensure you’ll lose money and keep money on the table in your local, small business.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
But you’re not alone if you don’t have this yet – this is the most common missteps I see (in fact, I was guilty of this myself when I first started out!). When trying to market my business, I would try to cover everyone that might ever be interested in my services. There was no clear target or “perfect customer” and people could feel it. They left feeling confused – and a confused mind doesn’t buy (or refer). I spent so much time talking to everyone and trying to please them all, that I wasn’t talking to anyone specifically and didn’t please anyone. Over time, I realized that if I was going to be able to really get in front of my ideal customer (customers I loved to work with and loved to work with me), that I had to really get clear on what mattered to them, how they liked to be communicated with (notice that doesn’t say “to”), and what their major pain points were. Key Lesson: Everyone is not a target. Laser focus in “who” your target is the foundation upon which you’ll build everything else: your message, pricing, product, sales cycle...you name it.
It may feel like limiting your target will reduce how much you can make and the reality is the exact opposite happens.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
Think of how strongly people align with Apple vs. Microsoft, Yankees vs. Red Sox, conservatives vs. liberals (and how much they spend accordingly to support those brands/issues/causes). And there is a reason for this – as humans we like our tribes, we like to spend time with people who think like us, talk like us, share the same values as us. Shifting your mindset around the need to have total customer clarity will transform your business. Everything – I mean everything – becomes easier AND more profitable. An important thing to remember: Honing your target customer and your message will mean not everyone will like you. In fact, it may even result in your you being pretty polarizing. And you know what? That’s how you know you’re doing it right. People will love you as strongly as they dislike. Focus on the people who love you – and forget the rest. They just helped you qualify them as not a good fit as a customer.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
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MISTAKE #2: NOT HAVING A GROWTH GOAL OR REASONING BEHIND IT (IF YOU DO)
How many times have you heard a fellow business owner talk about his or her six-figure goal? Or his or her million dollar goal? Maybe you’ve even done it yourself – I know I have. But why? Why that particular number? Why that particular goal? And more importantly, how are they (or you) planning on getting there? Or maybe you know you want to grow (generally). We all do, right?! OK...then what? How are you getting there? Where do you actually (really) want to go? Seemingly simple questions. But don’t let them fool you. They are inordinately difficult to answer. Seriously. And they need and deserve your time and focus. Can you tell me right now with precision the answers to these questions? Nope? You’re not alone. And it’s this lack of clarity that comes in as mistake #2 on our list.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
As small business owners, it is essential that we think of a growth goal as a place on a map. If you don’t have the location you’re hoping to reach, it doesn’t really matter which way you go, right? But once you have the location mind, the ways to get there get smaller, easier. We can outline what we need – what road to take (freeway or the scenic byway)? How we’ll travel – bike, walking, car, maybe a motorcycle or RV (notice I didn’t list fly)? How far away it is? How much progress we’ve made? What time we’ll arrive? How long it will take? It becomes a plan. With crystal clarity into what it’ll take from a cost, resource, time, and energy perspective – as well as what the experience will be like. In the past, I would set goals like: grow my staff to 10 and double our revenue into the multiple six figures. Why? Because (if I’m honest) it looked good. It sounded good. And those were the kinds of goals that everyone else was setting. But here’s the thing, because I set goals like that, I built I business I didn’t love. I don’t love managing people or a big staff. I drove on the freeway instead of taking the motorcycle on the byway with stops to enjoy the scenery (which is what I really wanted).
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
And revenue growth (in general) was and is a great goal but of “doubling our revenue into the multiple six figures” wasn’t very clear and I had no actual marketing plan to get us there. So you know what happened? We stayed about the same size. Tried a bunch of random tactics that didn’t do a lot for me, but cost me a lot. Built a big team only to realize I didn’t want it and then enjoyed the discomfort of re-examining all of that hard work. So instead, before launching any new marketing campaign or growth program, get crystal clear on what you really want and why.
Key Lesson: Only you can determine where you really want to go and what your growth goals are and how you want to get there.
Want to stay home with the kids? A multi-million dollar business with funding isn’t going to allow for that. And a marketing strategy to double or triple your growth will have to be built with that goal in mind – not just your revenue growth goal. This simple adjustment – making sure you have a clear goal for not only your business, but for every marketing tactic you implement makes everything easier.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
You can tell if it’s working (are you closer?) or if you’re loving it (maybe you need to get off the freeway or get back on it) or if you need to re-evaluate your vehicle.
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MISTAKE #3: BUYING INTO THE MYTH OF NEEDING EXPENSIVE SOFTWARE, SPECIFIC PLATFORMS OR SOLUTIONS
This mistake can be a pricey one. And one that really cost me in the past. And as business owners, I think we are especially susceptible to the idea of a “magic bullet” solution. Why? Because we work our asses off. AND because we’re great at that thing we do (cleaning carpets, cutting hair, selling real estate, providing marketing services, styling aging moms, etc.) that the idea that we’d have to ALSO be great at running a business is a hard, overwhelming and unclear path. Someone must know how to do that too, right? And it must be (or feel) as easy as that thing I’m so great at it.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
So when we hear that if we only were “on Facebook” or used this website platform or bought this email marketing service, we’d be golden. Because everyone uses it. Or this business did and look what happened. But the assumption falls apart in two ways. 1: How many years did it take you to get where you are? I don’t imagine it happened overnight. And 2: All of those solutions are simply tools. Just because someone gives you a wrench doesn’t mean you can fix the car. And the worst part of all of this, is that you often hear these recommendations from marketing “experts” and “gurus”. So it must be true, right? Wrong. Key Lesson: The things that work for a local, small business are oftentimes non-technical and not something a marketer could sell you. So whether it’s intentional (and I’m a firm believer most of the time, it’s not) or not, the concept of a one-size-fits, magic bullet all solution is a myth.
No amount of spendy technology or x,y, or z platform can replace an honest-to-goodness marketing strategy.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
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MISTAKE #4: OVERLOOKING WORD OF MOUTH
Repeat after me: Word of mouth. Word of mouth. Word of mouth. When I first started out I really didn’t much stock into word mouth. I spent a little bit of time and energy on it, but not much. And talk about a mistake. As I later learned, as a local, small business, your number one form of marketing to a local market is word of mouth. In fact, almost 90% of local, small businesses report this at their #1 marketing tool.
Key Lesson: Regardless of how “old school” it seems word of mouth is the most important piece of your local marketing program.
I cannot stress this enough. In communities, regardless how big, word of mouth is a beast of tool. Even when I was in technology startup in Silicon Valley this was important.
THE 4 MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETING MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE
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Amanda K. Larrinaga
How do you think we sold that company to Google? The founder’s neighbor worked there – and he got us an introduction. How did we locate that great developer? His best friend was on our staff. How did we secure that multi-million dollar funding round? We had worked with someone on that board in our last business. Word of mouth. Word of mouth. Word of mouth. As a small business owner, this is the mantra to live and die by. Remember, as a local, small business owner the strength in your brand is in your word of mouth. It’s in the experience your customers have. One bad review or customer experience can touch up to 60 people. How many more do you think one solid review or customer experience will have? It’ll change everything. Don’t overlook it. Regardless of how old-school, non-technical or uncool it seems. Repeat after me: Word of mouth. Word of mouth. Word of mouth.
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