December 3, 2023 • 14 mins
#002: What if you could conquer your biggest marketing growth challenge with a new, refreshing approach? Here's the deal: this Small Business Marketing Huddle episode is about doing fewer things exceptionally well, rather than spreading yourself too thin. So how do you achieve this? Join me, Lily Richmond, as I share an easy approach to focus clearly and make real progress by nailing down your biggest marketing growth challenge to maximise your budget's potential.
As we edge closer to the new year, it is time to start thinking about what you want to achieve, and how your marketing can support your business goals. I know you're keen to make 2024 your best year yet, and I'm here to help you do just that.
Get the show notes and more - https://marketingondemand.co/podcast
Got a topic you want me to cover? Share your ideas here: https://marketingondemand.co/contact
Like what you hear? Connect with me on social media:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro Speaker (00:05):
Welcome to the Small Business Marketing Huddle.
Our show is all about takingaction.
We equip you with the marketingknowledge and confidence you
need to make real progress.
So let's huddle up and listenin to the latest episode with
your host, Lily Richmond.
Lily Richmond (00:31):
Hey, this is Lily .
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
If you are already subscribedto the show, thank you so much.
You guys make the huddle anawesome place to be, and if it's
your first time here, don'tforget to subscribe, because
today, like in every episode,I'm going to cover a marketing
topic that I think you've reallygot to learn if you want to
(00:53):
nail your marketing for yoursmall business.
And make sure you listen untilthe end, because I'm going to
share a technique that's goingto help you filter out all of
that noise and distraction andfocus on the marketing that
really matters most for yourindividual business.
So today's episode is all abouta concept that I like to call
your biggest marketing growthchallenge, and the reason I
(01:15):
wanted to teach you about thisupfront early on in the podcast
is that I use this with most ofmy clients, and it is a really
helpful way to think about thebig picture, really when it
comes to marketing yourindividual business and making
sure that you do a small numberof things really well, rather
than doing lots of things andmaybe not doing them quite so
(01:38):
well because your focus isspread so thin, and you know
what.
This is super timely, given thatwe are rounding out 2023.
My goodness me, how did thathappen?
And 2024 is going to be herebefore we know it, and it's a
really good idea to startthinking about what you want to
achieve next year now.
So let's get straight into it.
(02:00):
Firstly, I feel like I kind ofneed to set the scene a bit
first.
So if we think about next year2024, you might say, have five
goals or business priorities forthe year that you want to focus
on and look back at the end ofthe year and go, yeah, cool, I
(02:20):
achieved that.
Chances are that probablyequates to I don't know 20, 25
different marketing activitiesthat you might have to do
throughout the year to help youachieve those goals.
And the problem really arisesthat when you've got so much to
do, your focus gets split.
It's like I guess the only waythat I can think about
(02:44):
describing it is like having 25tabs open in your internet
browser at once.
It gets a little bitoverwhelming and you're not
quite sure where to start, whereto go next and what to finish
off, and it actually splits yourbudget and your resources,
which I think can be prettyproblematic if you're a small
business and you've actually gota small marketing budget to
(03:04):
play with in the first place.
You know it can often be betterat times to spend a larger
chunk on a few activities and dothem really, really well,
rather than spending reallysmall amounts on many things,
because sometimes you'llstruggle to get that cut through
that you need, especially withthings like digital advertising.
(03:26):
That's a really good example ofthere are really minimum
budgets that you need to beusing to play with to actually
get cut through, get some goodresults.
Otherwise, you can be wastingyour money a little bit
sometimes in those areas.
Now it's not to say that smallyou know really small budgets
don't work but it's more that ifyou can concentrate and focus
that money and effort and timeinto a small number of
(03:50):
activities, you've got a greaterchance of those succeeding.
So the question for you islooking at your business now and
what you might want to achievefor the next year.
What does your marketing needto focus on to help you get
there?
Just to give you some examplesis it to build your brand
awareness?
Maybe you want to enter into anew marketplace, or maybe it's
(04:13):
that you want to reposition yourbusiness into a different
lucrative niche that you'veuncovered in the last year.
Or maybe you want to deepenrelationships with your existing
customers.
You might have quite a largeengaged customer base already
that you really want to focus ongiving the love and delivering
more business through.
Or maybe it's to set yourbusiness apart from your
(04:36):
competitors with a new serviceoffering that you've come up
with.
These are quite big, meatymarketing challenges to overcome
in a year.
Could you imagine doing allfour of those at once in a year?
It's going to be really hardwhen you're a small business and
you don't have a big marketingteam or a big marketing budget
to play with.
(04:56):
So prioritizing and being super, super focused and intentional,
I think, is really key.
So once you've settled on whatyour biggest marketing growth
challenge is, then you cancreate a marketing plan and a
budget and a calendar all aroundthat biggest marketing
challenge.
So everything that you're goingto do in that particular year
is going to feed up into thatoverall goal, which will
(05:19):
ultimately help you achieve yourbusiness objectives for 2024.
So, if we think about yourbiggest marketing growth
challenge, how does it actuallyhelp you market better?
So here are just five ways thatI think it's going to help you,
and I'm sure there are manymore than five ways, but firstly
, it's going to make you feelless overwhelmed.
Second, you'll have a clearersense of purpose around your
(05:43):
marketing.
Thirdly, it becomes easier toprioritize.
You will know which activitiesare important and which ones can
be deprioritized, depending onwhat you've got going on.
Number four your marketingreally has a much greater chance
of being consistent andintegrated.
You'll be hitting the samemessages throughout your
(06:04):
marketing activities in the year.
Number five back to budgetagain.
It can be used much moreeffectively.
I've already mentioned it, butreally when you focus on a
smaller number of focusedactivities, you get much more
bang for your buck.
So how do you come up with yourbiggest marketing growth
challenge?
Stay tuned and I'll give youthe easy to action steps to
(06:26):
create yours.
So we are down to the businessend of the episode.
How do we apply this concept inyour business?
Well, I guess the first thing Iwant to preface this with is
there is no single right answerhere.
Your business is unique andwhat you want to achieve from it
(06:48):
is individual to you.
So don't get caught up worryingif your goals are the right
ones and if your priorities arethe right ones, or if your
biggest challenge is the rightone.
There is no right one.
There are many, many options inmarketing that you can always
choose from.
So it's progress overperfection here, and don't worry
(07:10):
about being able to tick a boxwith the right answer.
So, now that we've got that outof the way, what are the
actions that you can take rightnow to implement this?
Well, first, up with 2024 coming, I want you to sit down with a
coffee and plan out your topbusiness goals first.
And if you're not sure how todo that, or if you haven't done
that before in your business,here are two quick and easy ways
(07:32):
to help you brainstorm.
Firstly, look at yourperformance this year and ask
yourself how do I want toimprove my business on 2023?
What could I do to take mybusiness to the next level?
And that doesn't have to be thebusiness getting bigger, it
could be the business gettingbetter.
And the second tip forbrainstorming your business
(07:55):
priorities is ask yourself thisquestion when I reach the end of
2024, what will a successfulyear have looked like in my
business?
And jot down your ideas aroundthat.
That's a really good way foryou to project forward and think
about what you want yourbusiness to achieve, so that you
can work backwards if you want.
(08:17):
So hopefully, those two ideascan help you get your
inspiration flowing around yourbusiness objectives.
Once you've done that, the nextthing to do is to look at your
business goals and brainstormthe different marketing
activities that you could actionto help you achieve that goal.
So, for each of your businessgoals, write down all of those
(08:37):
different marketing activitiesthat you could do throughout the
year that are going to help youachieve that.
Once you've done that, thenlook at all of those marketing
activities that you've listeddown and have a look.
Are there some themes emerging?
Is your marketing all aboutgrowing awareness?
Maybe it's about growing marketshare?
Maybe all of your marketing isrelated to launching a new
(08:58):
product or service, or could itbe fully maximizing your loyal
customer base.
That you've got and you want tobe able to really cement your
position in your market is thebest at what you do.
So these are just some examples,and there are plenty more, but
it's a really good way for youto start to tease out and look
(09:18):
at those marketing activitiesthat you've defined for those
business goals and start to say,actually, what's the common
thread here?
What's my overall goal with mymarketing.
What do I really need to do?
What's going to move the needlemore than anything else?
And then that's how you come upwith your biggest marketing
growth challenge.
(09:39):
And again, this is unique toyou and your business.
There are no right or wronganswers here, and hey, if you're
not happy with it, you canchange it Easy peasy.
Okay, so you've now landed onyour biggest marketing growth
challenge.
I want you to then write thatat the top of your marketing
plan or your marketing calendarwhatever you use to plan your
(10:00):
marketing for the year and youcan then start to list out those
activities that are going tohelp you get there.
And, hey presto, you've donethat in the previous exercise.
Once you've done that, you'vegot your biggest marketing
growth challenge front andcenter, it's a great time to
assess your budget.
Is your marketing budget goingto be going towards activities
that are going to help you meetthat challenge and achieve
(10:22):
success?
And that should be theyardstick with which you
determine what activities you'regoing to do and which ones
you're going to pass on.
So, if we can get a practicallevel, how does this work?
If you wanted to say, cementyour market position as one of
the best in your industry andyour category for what you do
and you want to use Facebook todo that, then you might use
(10:46):
Facebook to share testimonials,or you might ask customers to
share their photos of what theylove about your business or your
products and services, and thisis called user generated
content, and we'll talk aboutthat in a future episode.
But that's how you could useFacebook to really position
yourself as a leader in yourparticular field.
(11:08):
Another way might be that youwant to create an automated
email campaign that goes out toyour customers with a
satisfaction survey, so you canshare how happy your customers
are.
You can put that on yourwebsite.
You can also keep potentialsuppliers updated.
There are loads of ways thatyou can use a customer
satisfaction survey to youradvantage to help you market.
(11:29):
So can you see how this is allsuper focused and helpful,
because it makes you reallysingle-minded in the things that
you do, in the effort that youmake, so that when the next
marketing agency knocks on yourdoor and they're trying to I
don't know sell you someadvertising space, you'll be
primed to ask yourself does thishelp me achieve my biggest
(11:50):
marketing growth challenge?
That way, you can make the bestpossible decision for your
business and your individualbudget.
So there was quite a lot tounpack there.
Quite a few actions for you totake as a result to come up with
your marketing growth challenge.
So just to recap number onecome up with your business goals
for 2024.
Number two brainstorm all themarketing activities that you
(12:13):
could do to help you achieveeach of those individual goals.
Three look for the themes andpatterns.
Ask yourself overall, what doesmy marketing need to achieve
for me to hit my business goals?
And four write that growthchallenge down and put it on the
top of your marketing plan oryour marketing calendar, and
it's a perfect way for you tofilter marketing in and out of
(12:37):
your plan based on yourpriorities.
Thanks for being part of theHuddle Today team.
I really do hope you enjoyedthis episode.
It was a little bit of a meatyone, but I think, such an
important way to start thinkingabout 2024 now.
Now don't forget to hitsubscribe, because next week we
(12:58):
are going to cover how you canget more sales for your business
on a shoestring budget, so youdefinitely don't want to miss it
.
And one other thing I'd lovefor you to do once you've
listened to this episode.
Head over to my website and youcan grab yourself a copy of my
free marketing tactics forgrowth guide, which will help
you prioritize your marketing tothe stuff that actually grows
(13:19):
revenue.
You can get it athttps://marketingondemand.
co/growthguide - all one word.
Thanks for listening and I'llcatch up with you at the next
episode of the Small BusinessMarketing Huddle.
Now for the legal jargon.
(13:43):
This podcast is for informationand education purposes only .
We make no business performanceclaims or guarantees in the
information shared.
The podcast content is generalin nature and does not
constitute advice for yourunique business situation.
Welcome to the Small Business Marketing Huddle.
Our show is all about takingaction.
We equip you with the marketingknowledge and confidence you
need to make real progress.
So let's huddle up and listenin to the latest episode with
your host, Lily Richmond.
Lily Richmond (00:31):
Hey, this is Lily .
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
If you are already subscribedto the show, thank you so much.
You guys make the huddle anawesome place to be, and if it's
your first time here, don'tforget to subscribe, because
today, like in every episode,I'm going to cover a marketing
topic that I think you've reallygot to learn if you want to
(00:53):
nail your marketing for yoursmall business.
And make sure you listen untilthe end, because I'm going to
share a technique that's goingto help you filter out all of
that noise and distraction andfocus on the marketing that
really matters most for yourindividual business.
So today's episode is all abouta concept that I like to call
your biggest marketing growthchallenge, and the reason I
(01:15):
wanted to teach you about thisupfront early on in the podcast
is that I use this with most ofmy clients, and it is a really
helpful way to think about thebig picture, really when it
comes to marketing yourindividual business and making
sure that you do a small numberof things really well, rather
than doing lots of things andmaybe not doing them quite so
(01:38):
well because your focus isspread so thin, and you know
what.
This is super timely, given thatwe are rounding out 2023.
My goodness me, how did thathappen?
And 2024 is going to be herebefore we know it, and it's a
really good idea to startthinking about what you want to
achieve next year now.
So let's get straight into it.
(02:00):
Firstly, I feel like I kind ofneed to set the scene a bit
first.
So if we think about next year2024, you might say, have five
goals or business priorities forthe year that you want to focus
on and look back at the end ofthe year and go, yeah, cool, I
(02:20):
achieved that.
Chances are that probablyequates to I don't know 20, 25
different marketing activitiesthat you might have to do
throughout the year to help youachieve those goals.
And the problem really arisesthat when you've got so much to
do, your focus gets split.
It's like I guess the only waythat I can think about
(02:44):
describing it is like having 25tabs open in your internet
browser at once.
It gets a little bitoverwhelming and you're not
quite sure where to start, whereto go next and what to finish
off, and it actually splits yourbudget and your resources,
which I think can be prettyproblematic if you're a small
business and you've actually gota small marketing budget to
(03:04):
play with in the first place.
You know it can often be betterat times to spend a larger
chunk on a few activities and dothem really, really well,
rather than spending reallysmall amounts on many things,
because sometimes you'llstruggle to get that cut through
that you need, especially withthings like digital advertising.
(03:26):
That's a really good example ofthere are really minimum
budgets that you need to beusing to play with to actually
get cut through, get some goodresults.
Otherwise, you can be wastingyour money a little bit
sometimes in those areas.
Now it's not to say that smallyou know really small budgets
don't work but it's more that ifyou can concentrate and focus
that money and effort and timeinto a small number of
(03:50):
activities, you've got a greaterchance of those succeeding.
So the question for you islooking at your business now and
what you might want to achievefor the next year.
What does your marketing needto focus on to help you get
there?
Just to give you some examplesis it to build your brand
awareness?
Maybe you want to enter into anew marketplace, or maybe it's
(04:13):
that you want to reposition yourbusiness into a different
lucrative niche that you'veuncovered in the last year.
Or maybe you want to deepenrelationships with your existing
customers.
You might have quite a largeengaged customer base already
that you really want to focus ongiving the love and delivering
more business through.
Or maybe it's to set yourbusiness apart from your
(04:36):
competitors with a new serviceoffering that you've come up
with.
These are quite big, meatymarketing challenges to overcome
in a year.
Could you imagine doing allfour of those at once in a year?
It's going to be really hardwhen you're a small business and
you don't have a big marketingteam or a big marketing budget
to play with.
(04:56):
So prioritizing and being super, super focused and intentional,
I think, is really key.
So once you've settled on whatyour biggest marketing growth
challenge is, then you cancreate a marketing plan and a
budget and a calendar all aroundthat biggest marketing
challenge.
So everything that you're goingto do in that particular year
is going to feed up into thatoverall goal, which will
(05:19):
ultimately help you achieve yourbusiness objectives for 2024.
So, if we think about yourbiggest marketing growth
challenge, how does it actuallyhelp you market better?
So here are just five ways thatI think it's going to help you,
and I'm sure there are manymore than five ways, but firstly
, it's going to make you feelless overwhelmed.
Second, you'll have a clearersense of purpose around your
(05:43):
marketing.
Thirdly, it becomes easier toprioritize.
You will know which activitiesare important and which ones can
be deprioritized, depending onwhat you've got going on.
Number four your marketingreally has a much greater chance
of being consistent andintegrated.
You'll be hitting the samemessages throughout your
(06:04):
marketing activities in the year.
Number five back to budgetagain.
It can be used much moreeffectively.
I've already mentioned it, butreally when you focus on a
smaller number of focusedactivities, you get much more
bang for your buck.
So how do you come up with yourbiggest marketing growth
challenge?
Stay tuned and I'll give youthe easy to action steps to
(06:26):
create yours.
So we are down to the businessend of the episode.
How do we apply this concept inyour business?
Well, I guess the first thing Iwant to preface this with is
there is no single right answerhere.
Your business is unique andwhat you want to achieve from it
(06:48):
is individual to you.
So don't get caught up worryingif your goals are the right
ones and if your priorities arethe right ones, or if your
biggest challenge is the rightone.
There is no right one.
There are many, many options inmarketing that you can always
choose from.
So it's progress overperfection here, and don't worry
(07:10):
about being able to tick a boxwith the right answer.
So, now that we've got that outof the way, what are the
actions that you can take rightnow to implement this?
Well, first, up with 2024 coming, I want you to sit down with a
coffee and plan out your topbusiness goals first.
And if you're not sure how todo that, or if you haven't done
that before in your business,here are two quick and easy ways
(07:32):
to help you brainstorm.
Firstly, look at yourperformance this year and ask
yourself how do I want toimprove my business on 2023?
What could I do to take mybusiness to the next level?
And that doesn't have to be thebusiness getting bigger, it
could be the business gettingbetter.
And the second tip forbrainstorming your business
(07:55):
priorities is ask yourself thisquestion when I reach the end of
2024, what will a successfulyear have looked like in my
business?
And jot down your ideas aroundthat.
That's a really good way foryou to project forward and think
about what you want yourbusiness to achieve, so that you
can work backwards if you want.
(08:17):
So hopefully, those two ideascan help you get your
inspiration flowing around yourbusiness objectives.
Once you've done that, the nextthing to do is to look at your
business goals and brainstormthe different marketing
activities that you could actionto help you achieve that goal.
So, for each of your businessgoals, write down all of those
(08:37):
different marketing activitiesthat you could do throughout the
year that are going to help youachieve that.
Once you've done that, thenlook at all of those marketing
activities that you've listeddown and have a look.
Are there some themes emerging?
Is your marketing all aboutgrowing awareness?
Maybe it's about growing marketshare?
Maybe all of your marketing isrelated to launching a new
(08:58):
product or service, or could itbe fully maximizing your loyal
customer base.
That you've got and you want tobe able to really cement your
position in your market is thebest at what you do.
So these are just some examples,and there are plenty more, but
it's a really good way for youto start to tease out and look
(09:18):
at those marketing activitiesthat you've defined for those
business goals and start to say,actually, what's the common
thread here?
What's my overall goal with mymarketing.
What do I really need to do?
What's going to move the needlemore than anything else?
And then that's how you come upwith your biggest marketing
growth challenge.
(09:39):
And again, this is unique toyou and your business.
There are no right or wronganswers here, and hey, if you're
not happy with it, you canchange it Easy peasy.
Okay, so you've now landed onyour biggest marketing growth
challenge.
I want you to then write thatat the top of your marketing
plan or your marketing calendarwhatever you use to plan your
(10:00):
marketing for the year and youcan then start to list out those
activities that are going tohelp you get there.
And, hey presto, you've donethat in the previous exercise.
Once you've done that, you'vegot your biggest marketing
growth challenge front andcenter, it's a great time to
assess your budget.
Is your marketing budget goingto be going towards activities
that are going to help you meetthat challenge and achieve
(10:22):
success?
And that should be theyardstick with which you
determine what activities you'regoing to do and which ones
you're going to pass on.
So, if we can get a practicallevel, how does this work?
If you wanted to say, cementyour market position as one of
the best in your industry andyour category for what you do
and you want to use Facebook todo that, then you might use
(10:46):
Facebook to share testimonials,or you might ask customers to
share their photos of what theylove about your business or your
products and services, and thisis called user generated
content, and we'll talk aboutthat in a future episode.
But that's how you could useFacebook to really position
yourself as a leader in yourparticular field.
(11:08):
Another way might be that youwant to create an automated
email campaign that goes out toyour customers with a
satisfaction survey, so you canshare how happy your customers
are.
You can put that on yourwebsite.
You can also keep potentialsuppliers updated.
There are loads of ways thatyou can use a customer
satisfaction survey to youradvantage to help you market.
(11:29):
So can you see how this is allsuper focused and helpful,
because it makes you reallysingle-minded in the things that
you do, in the effort that youmake, so that when the next
marketing agency knocks on yourdoor and they're trying to I
don't know sell you someadvertising space, you'll be
primed to ask yourself does thishelp me achieve my biggest
(11:50):
marketing growth challenge?
That way, you can make the bestpossible decision for your
business and your individualbudget.
So there was quite a lot tounpack there.
Quite a few actions for you totake as a result to come up with
your marketing growth challenge.
So just to recap number onecome up with your business goals
for 2024.
Number two brainstorm all themarketing activities that you
(12:13):
could do to help you achieveeach of those individual goals.
Three look for the themes andpatterns.
Ask yourself overall, what doesmy marketing need to achieve
for me to hit my business goals?
And four write that growthchallenge down and put it on the
top of your marketing plan oryour marketing calendar, and
it's a perfect way for you tofilter marketing in and out of
(12:37):
your plan based on yourpriorities.
Thanks for being part of theHuddle Today team.
I really do hope you enjoyedthis episode.
It was a little bit of a meatyone, but I think, such an
important way to start thinkingabout 2024 now.
Now don't forget to hitsubscribe, because next week we
(12:58):
are going to cover how you canget more sales for your business
on a shoestring budget, so youdefinitely don't want to miss it
.
And one other thing I'd lovefor you to do once you've
listened to this episode.
Head over to my website and youcan grab yourself a copy of my
free marketing tactics forgrowth guide, which will help
you prioritize your marketing tothe stuff that actually grows
(13:19):
revenue.
You can get it athttps://marketingondemand.
co/growthguide - all one word.
Thanks for listening and I'llcatch up with you at the next
episode of the Small BusinessMarketing Huddle.
Now for the legal jargon.
(13:43):
This podcast is for informationand education purposes only .
We make no business performanceclaims or guarantees in the
information shared.
The podcast content is generalin nature and does not
constitute advice for yourunique business situation.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Monster: BTK
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.