With apologies to one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Gilbert, I want to ask you to assess your marketing with a cold eye and an honest look. Tell me…..is your marketing system based on the wish, hope, and pray method? Here are some signs that it is:
- No one in your organization has a clear mission of responsibility for creating and running a constant marketing system.
- Marketing falls to the back of the list after client services, bookkeeping, scheduling, errands, and dusting the office.
- Networking in the community and on the Internet is catch-as-catch-can and is handed off to the least busiest person.
- You have no idea how many new customers you have gained in the last 30, 60, or 90 days.
- You have no idea how many customers you haven’t heard from in the last 30, 60, or 90 days.
- You don’t really like to market, think it is hard to do, and believe that great customer service alone will do the trick.
- Your marketing system consists of trying to upsell existing clients when they are in (think about the hair salon syndrome….you can’t get out of there without running the gauntlet of hair product, make-up, and spa service suggestions every single time you are there).
If even one of these hits home, you are in the wish, hope, and pray mode and you need to get out of it, fast! Consider your business as a three legged stool, the three legs being marketing, customer service, and expertise. Each of the three legs is completely dependent on the other two, as the stool won’t work without them all.
- Your expertise is what you do, your magic, your passionate purpose.
- Your customer service is all the things you develop and carry out to ensure your customers get 5-star treatment, including how you take care of displeasure and disappointment when it occurs.
- Your marketing is a planned, ongoing, automated system that feeds you a constant flow of potential new customers.
Each leg of the stool is key, and each is as important as the other. If you have sawed off a leg by your disinterest, busyness, or avoidance, I suggest you wish, hope, and pray before you sit yourself on the stool. You may balance for a little while, but in the end you’ll be on the ground. And that’s one place no entrepreneur wants to be.
Christine McIvor says
May 31, 2010 at 11:24 pmWhen days get overwhelming, I will definitely come back to this post as a reminder to keep it simple! Brilliant analogy. Thanks for sharing Sue.
suepainter says
June 1, 2010 at 6:36 amYou’re welcome, Christine. You are a great example of someone who knows how to keep it consistent and focused, by the way!
Sue Painter
Mitch Tublin says
May 31, 2010 at 9:05 pmSue,
Right on target as always!
Thanks,
Mitch
Terry Monaghan says
May 31, 2010 at 8:17 amso right on target! Thanks.
Phil Dyer says
May 27, 2010 at 10:40 pmAwesome Post, Sue…and coming at a really good time…as I am in the middle of a top-down review on marketing efforts. You have given me some great ideas!
suepainter says
May 28, 2010 at 6:54 amThose top-down reviews can be a lot of fun, Phil. Glad this was helpful for you.
Sue Painter
Jenny Fenig says
May 27, 2010 at 10:33 pmFirst off, love the “Eat Pray Love” spin off (great book!). Secondly, your post is RIGHT ON. You really do have to focus on marketing ALL the time … and you can do it in a way that feels right to you and doesn’t suck all the life out of you!
Your post is SO helpful … keep up the stellar work!
xoxo
Jenny
suepainter says
May 28, 2010 at 6:55 amI loved Gilbert’s book, too, Jenny. Italy and Bali are my two favorite places in the world, so I could barely go wrong reading Eat, Pray, Love. Thanks for the comment.
Sue Painter
Lisa Manyon says
May 27, 2010 at 10:03 amSue,
You are on a roll!! Between your blog posts and your poignant questions on Facebook my mind is reeling. GREAT job and thanks for the providing food for thought.
You inspire me.
Write on!~
Lisa
suepainter says
May 27, 2010 at 12:04 pmThank you, Lisa. You inspire me, as well. You do a great job of both PR and marketing!
Sue Painter
Patricia Selmo says
May 27, 2010 at 8:11 amGuilty as charged!!! Thanks for making me see this and providing clear steps to fix it!
Terri says
May 27, 2010 at 7:34 amHey Sue
Music to my ears – awesome post – had the same conversation to 2 clients today
thanks for outlining so easily and simly
cheers
Terri Cook
Dr. Robert Fenell says
May 27, 2010 at 12:31 amPowerful message and right on the money.
Dr. Robert Fenell
Repetitive Strain Injuries
Kiyla Fenell says
May 27, 2010 at 12:30 amPreach it Sue! I love the three-legged stool analogy. You can’t make the magic happen without all three.
Kiyla
suepainter says
May 27, 2010 at 5:17 amLOL Kiyla, you’re the second person who has called me a preacher lady. 🙂
Katherine C. H. E. says
May 26, 2010 at 8:33 pmSue, you are a treasure! XO Katherine
Life Blossoming Systems
Get Clear Goals with Lynn Moore says
May 26, 2010 at 8:10 pmI just realized a few days ago that I suck at marketing. Then I made plans to remedy that.. So I’ve been reminded from all the posts this week (so far) that I’m a danger to myself with perfectionism, I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, there are two wolves fighting over food inside me and my marketing skills are non-existent. HOWEVER, I embrace my Black Angel for all she can teach me!
A phenomenal week!
Lynn
suepainter says
May 26, 2010 at 8:24 pmLOL, Lynn. You can stop “sucking at marketing” just let me know when you want some help. 🙂
Laura Hollick says
May 26, 2010 at 8:37 amSo interesting to be reading your post today.
Just last night I was thinking about the importance of having an operations manual that the whole team is aware of an uses for marketing and everything else the business does!
Things like this are so simple, yet so easily forgotten or overlooked, and the results of not being organized and clear can be fatal.
Thanks Sue for always keeping me on track!
suepainter says
May 26, 2010 at 9:48 amYou’re welcome, Laura!
Carmen@GetOrganized says
May 26, 2010 at 3:28 amI have an idea for Ellen — pay someone else to market for you! Then you can still be introverted! 🙂 But for Sue — I love the 3-legged stool analogy. How simple you make it seem, and yet how difficult we make it to be in reality….
-Carmen
suepainter says
May 26, 2010 at 6:40 amThanks, Carmen. And yes, Ellen COULD pay someone to market for her, but that does take longer in the pipeline and brings up a break in the “know/like/trust” that is so critical to a solopreneur business. It’s a better fix to work on mindset.
Sue Painter
Ellen Martin says
May 25, 2010 at 5:35 pmHi Sue,
Great post! I definitely fit into the wish, hope and pray category. Marketing NEVER becomes a priority for me. Of course, I know that my business can’t sustain that way. I would love to see tips on marketing for introverts 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Ellen Martin
suepainter says
May 25, 2010 at 8:45 pmYou’ve given me a good idea, Ellen. “Marketing for Introverts” sounds like a great teleseminar. Yes, you definitely need to always be marketing. 🙂
Pinky McKay says
May 25, 2010 at 5:22 pmBrilliant!!! You have me motivated again -its all too easy to get bogged in the day to day without planning that marketing strategy. Thankyou Sue,
Pinky