Today's post is for everyone who is busy and cannot stand to hear about one more “cool” or “hip” or “cutting edge” marketing idea! I want to be super boring and explain why I am a Marketing Turtle and how this easy marketing plan that works for me!
So Why A Marketing Turtle?
Turtles are slow and cute and determined as heck! They have to have a clear plan in order to get anything done (like ambling over to get a tasty piece of lettuce).
There are tons of stories about how being a turtle will make your life better…
- The tortoise and the hare… slow and steady wins the race! But in true trickster fashion he does it by fooling the hare with all his turtle family.
- In Hindu mythology the world is thought to rest on the backs of four elephants who stand on the shell of a turtle. In North American Cheyenne culture the turtle is the old grandmother who holds the world on her back.
- And then there is Mack the turtle, who decides enough is enough and ends Yertle The Turtle's reign in the classic Dr. Seuss book.
Pick A Marketing Plan and Stick To It
Here is my take on why you should stop chasing shiny objects and be happy little marketing turtle!
According to current marketing lore there are 15 different major sites that you should be on (think Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and the like). here is an article with all 15 if you are interested in this kind of thing
Are you kidding me?
There is NO WAY any small business owner could do any work if they were trying to grow and manage 15 different social media and marketing websites. Seriously, don't even try!
I am a marketing person and that is enough to make my stomach hurt a little so let's stop the madness and break down how successful marketing is really done!
My Marketing Plan
So my marketing plan has a few different pieces that look a bit like this….
My website is the hub of everything I do and adding to my email list is super important to growing my following because this gives me a chance to talk to them regularly. I post an amazing post once a week to my Marketing Artfully website and then do a couple a month to my other two sites I am growing slowly.
I am a writer, speaker and graphic artist so this plan fits perfectly into MY business!
You may be SHOCKED to realize there is no Facebook there as supposedly EVERYONE has to be on Facebook, but my goal is get people to come to my website and Facebook's goal is to keep people on their website so we are opposed in that idea. Facebook is not great for me!
Your Easy Marketing Plan!
Okay now let's talk about your marketing turtle plan. You need to understand that you can only do so much marketing and you have to keep things simple so let's say you can have three marketing channels…. pick the three you love out of this list or add one that you have thought of but I haven't….
- YouTube
- In Person Networking
- Podcasting
- Blogging
- Offline Advertising
- Speaking
- Phone Calls
- Snapchat
- Direct Mail
Write them down in three little boxes like these…
Obviously those are mine, yours will be different!
And then write down your #1, nothing else matters, this is what all the work is for goal! Mine is…
Get people to visit my website
That's it. Everything magical happens there!
But for you it might be to sign up for your email list, buy something, could be to call you, maybe sign up for a free consult. It doesn't matter what your goal is, just make sure you have a crystal clear goal!!!
Write it down now.
That's it… you are done with your easy marketing plan!
You can forget everything else… no bothering about Snapchat if you think it is dumb, no stressing about making videos if you think you will hate doing them, just do the three things you decided on!
Slow & Steady
All of that was totally the good news. Now comes the bad part. Doing this kind of easy marketing plan is pretty boring.
If you picked calling people, that first day was fun, you got some leads and now you have to do that again today AND followup on the leads that you got yesterday. Tomorrow will be same thing!
Or say you picked Instagram… now you have take pictures, and answer comments and follow people, every day from now on!
It is funny that I love my website but dread making the sales banners that will help sell more. Definitely not the sexy part, but the part that will help with sales so I put it on my calendar and do it!
Oh and add to that it will not happen overnight…sigh.
Get Ready For Battle!
source www.ninja-turtles.clipartonline.net
Just because you decided that you are using a certain marketing channel doesn't mean that people will start to flock to you or even notice.
You will need to fight for every follower, work every angle, and really become a marketing expert on how to make the most of that sales channel!
Oh AND you will need to fight off every other kind of marketing that people will try to get you to do!
For example, a friend just sent me a kind of software that will work on LinkedIn. Cool!
I WANT to try it, just kick the tires a wee bit and see if I can get LinkedIn to work for me… but I can't! It is not in my three squares of marketing.
It is MUCH easier to chase new trends than to stay on the slow and steady path towards your goals.
If you are going to be successful in your business, you need to learn to ignore all the other distractions and just focus on the types of marketing that will work for you!
Want some help?
I don't always talk about this but I do have a marketing consultation program that can help you figure out what you should be doing and you WILL walk away with a specific plan of what to do for the next 3-6 month marketing wise.
The best part is I make sure the plan is tailored to what you like to do so that you are way more likely to succeed!!
Find out more about Strategic Marketing Mentoring!
