3 dead-simple questions to fix your marketing in 5 minutes

When it comes to marketing, most businesses small and large, tend to attempt too much. For too little results.

So how do you pick what the best thing to put your time, money, or effort into?

First, there’s no best thing to do in marketing. So get the idea out of your head that you’re searching for a ‘best marketing thing you can do for your business’. What you’re searching for is the next thing to try and learn from.

3 questions to ask to get clear on your marketing.

What does my business need right now?

Is it Customer Retention, Customer Acquisition, Brand Awareness, or Strategy Growth?

If enough people are walking in but you’re not doing enough revenue, retention is probably the opportunity. If you’re new to the area, it’s probably a combo of Awareness and Acquisition.

Make a mental note of what you need.  

Where are my potential customers at that point in time (physically or online)?

With clarity about what your business needs now, ask ‘where is my customer then’ and meet them there.

Standing out the front of the restaurant reading a menu?

Sitting at the caravan park flipping through a visitor guide and scrolling Facebook?

Typing in a Google Search?

Where they are now, is where you meet them. At that point help them with what they need in the moment.

How can I help this person at that point?

How you turn up where they are, depends on the context of the situation.

Standing out the front reading the menu they want confidence their expectations (of the dining experience) will match the cost. How do you give them confidence? Prices, pictures, what others have said, a TV showing people loving the experience and raving about the meals – whatever is ‘you’.

Sitting at the caravan park flipping through a visitor guide and scrolling Facebook? Be in the visitor guide and be on Facebook (ads that will reach them, and only them). I know, rather obvious, right? At that point they probably need inspiration. They haven’t picked you and they’re not up to researching price or options. Provoke them to learn more about you. Make them realise your experience is something they’d regret missing.

Typing in a Google Search? How do you be there? You can pay (ads) or earn it (getting your website ranking high in search indexing). In either case, the person is demonstrating intent at this point. Intent to solve a problem. Focus on the intent at the time and align your ad or website content with it. But in a way that is completely your DNA, showing off your perfectly imperfect differences.

How to create a marketing plan from there.

If you want to convert this into a marketing plan, draw a table with four columns. Customer Acquisition, Customer Retention, Brand Awareness, Strategic Growth. In each column write down the marketing channel you’ll turn up in for that month. Add the details below the table. Who, what, when. And there you have the fundamentals of a marketing plan.

Choose less, though – do less and track less results. But do it well, pay attention, and learn. Repeat. That’s marketing.

Download the example below for free to copy it and get started on Canva.