5 Important Things You Must Do Before Marketing Your Small Business

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Female entrepreneur, sitting on her working desk while drinking a coffee.

One of the main problems my clients come to me with is the uncertainty about how to market their business to maximise sales. 

Trying to figure out the best way to market your beautiful business. Especially during the start-up phase, can be confusing and overwhelming. The internet is a sea of information that can swallow up hours, weeks and months of your valuable time. 

We can’t be experts in everything, and unless your zone of genius is in marketing. It stands to reason that it feels difficult to navigate. 

Effective Marketing is not something you can learn how to master overnight. And it is definitely not something you want to mess up! 

It is why global companies pay big bucks to have the best of the best on their marketing teams. Because you’re not in the business you think you are in, you’re in the business of marketing.  

You’re not in the business you think you are in, you’re in the business of marketing.  

Without a solid marketing strategy, the success of your product/service/launch/dreams and ultimately your income is left in the hands of chance, and that is not a risk you should be willing to take. You know how amazing your business is – but knowing how to put your product or service in front of the right audience is critical to its success. 

Without a solid marketing strategy, the success of your product or service and ultimately your income are left in the hands of chance, and that is not a risk you should be willing to take. Click To Tweet

Fempire exists to support you to succeed in growing your business, and for this reason, we are super passionate about sharing our marketing knowledge with you. 

Here are 5 Marketing Must Do’s before you even think about spending a cent on ads or marketing campaigns. 

1. Identify Your Target Market. 

You may have heard the saying ‘If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one‘.

This couldn’t be truer when it comes to marketing your product or service. While you know that your business is amazing and that everyone should buy from you, the fact is they won’t. 

While you know that your business is amazing and that everyone should buy from you, the fact is they won’t. 

Your target market is the small group of people who will be most likely to engage with your brand and eventually become a customer. When you think about your target market, you need to really hone in on this group and be as specific as you can. 

Every woman should know these 5 marketing strategies when starting a business pin

Think of a dartboard. You are trying to hit the bullseye. 

For example, as a Fempire Coach, you might think that my target market is ‘women’. This is true, but is my target market a woman who is happily employed and not interested at all in starting a business? 

No. 

Narrowing down further, is my target market women entrepreneurs? 

Closer, but still no.

Entrepreneurs’ could refer to anyone who owns a business, this could be a cake stall at a weekly market without the budget or desire to engage a coach, all the way to a multiple 8 figure CEO that has a team of coaches already. It is not that I couldn’t help these women, but if I was trying to market to both of them as well as everyone in between, you can see how my message might become very confused.

Identifying your target market is not all about demographics, but also takes into account the problems they face, the values they operate under and whether your product or service will align with those things. 

In my case, my target market is actually women entrepreneurs who need support in launching, growing or scaling their business, who understand the incredible value of a great business coach, and who are willing to invest in themselves and take action to get the results they desire. 

2. Establish Your USP. 

Say what now? 

Your USP is your Unique Selling Proposition. This means figuring out the point of difference that your brand has that your competitors don’t. This ties in to point number one, as your ideal target market will naturally gravitate to your brand if you have been authentic in relaying what makes you stand out from the crowd. 

If you are like many of the clients I work with, you may currently be thinking…. “Oh. I don’t have USP, I am offering the same thing as 50 other similar brands”. 

Before you let that self-doubt train derail your business dreams, I would suggest you take my word when I tell you that you absolutely have a USP. You just need to do some work to unlock it. 

It is sometimes hard if you are in an oversaturated market to figure out your point of difference, and it can take some time to examine and refine this. Once you do though, it will be an Aha! moment where you see exactly how your unique stamp on your industry belongs to your brand and your brand only. 

Good marketers know that people buy people, and lovely, there is only one you! 

Good marketers know that people buy people, and lovely, there is only one you! 

Only you can deliver the exact message in the exact way that your ideal customers need to hear it. The sooner you discover what makes you different from the rest, the sooner you can start serving more of the people that need to find you.

3. Know Your Target Market’s Problems 

So, once you have clarity about who you are trying to market to (your target market) and you have discovered what it is about you/your brand that those people will be attracted to over your competition, it is time to get into the nitty-gritty of WHY they will buy from you. 

Whether they know it yet or not, your target market has a problem. And what they might not know yet is that you have the solution to this problem. 

If you run a business, then you are a problem solver. No one in the history of buying has bought a product or service that doesn’t help them in some way or solve a problem that they have. 

This even applies to overly expensive “nice-to-have” items. The problem someone might be experiencing when they buy a Porsche is that they feel inferior to their colleague, that they want to impress someone or prove something to themselves. The problem might just be that they have worked hard their whole life to be able to afford a Porsche, so now they need to solve that problem and buy a Porsche.

People buy based on emotion, and understanding that makes marketing to them much easier. The problem/pain point should be as specific as you can narrow it down to. 

The problem/pain point should be as specific as you can narrow it down to. 

I want you to ask yourself what is the problem that my target market has, that I can help solve? More importantly, how will they feel when this problem is solved. 

For example, if you are a yoga instructor, and you specialise in teaching people how to master handstands and inversions, then your target market will be yoga enthusiasts who have the problem of not being able to do handstands and inversions as well as they would like to, and who want the benefit of deepening their skills and feeling better about themselves and their yoga practice. 

Yep, it can be that simple, specific and targeted. In fact, the more specific, the better. 

4. Realise the Power of Existing Customers 

I can’t stress this point enough!

If you have a previous customer, even just one, then you have a potential repeat customer. A buyer is a buyer and if they have connected with your messaging before, the likelihood of them buying from you again is much higher than if you try and sell to a new market. 

Oftentimes, people focus only on how they can get more leads and build a bigger audience, all the while ignoring the people who have already bought from them/worked with them, who are just waiting for the opportunity or reminder that they can work with them again. 

Don’t make this mistake. It is much cheaper to retain a customer than it is to get a new one, and also it just shows good integrity to nurture the people already on your list as a priority. 

Even if a previous customer doesn’t buy from you again, if you have delivered an amazing product or service and you have nurtured a relationship with them afterwards, they will become raving fans who recommend you to all their friends. 

Can you see how powerful that is? Your past customers will become your unofficial sales team. Do not neglect them. 

Your past customers will become your unofficial sales team. Do not neglect them. 

5. Get Support 

Being in business can be tough. Once the rose-coloured glasses fade and the reality of being an entrepreneur becomes obvious, it is so common that women give up altogether!

I don’t want that for you. 

The very best thing you can do for your business is to get the support you need, from someone you can trust to have the best interests of your business at heart. A great business coach is one of the best investments you can make in your business, and in yourself. 

A great business coach is one of the best investments you can make in your business, and in yourself. 

Before investing in a business coach, make sure you do your research and speak with the coach over the phone to get a feel for the energetic connection, you will know when you click with a coach, and it will make your decision feel empowering rather than daunting. 

When you are researching business coaching options, be sure to consider how the coach can help you holistically, as a business owner but also as a woman experiencing personal growth at the same time. 

Fempire founder and CEO Marnie LeFevre wrote about the qualities of a great coach recently, you can read the article here. 

You should also make sure you’re surrounded by the right people. The people that believe in you and everything that you are trying to achieve.

Things you must do before marketing your small biz pin

As women entrepreneurs, we face a very specific set of challenges in growing a successful business, and Fempire exists to make sure you are supported by women coaches who just get it, as well as a sisterhood of like-minded Fempreneurs who cheer each other on through the wins and the challenges, often creating lasting networks and friendships. 

This type of support from women who get it can transform your business, your confidence and your mindset. I can’t stress the value of this enough and I wouldn’t want to run my coaching business any other way. 

Just like they say about raising babies, it takes a village.

I believe that raising your business to its full potential takes the same kind of support, and we are truly building a village as our sisterhood grows. 

Now, given this article was about marketing your business, after all, I hope you have found value in these 5 tips that should help remove some of the confusion about where to start. 

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Still not sure?

Schedule a coaching call with Treah or one of our other Fempire Coaches today and we can get your marketing plan started. Click here to book now.

And join our newsletter or follow Fempire on Facebook for more marketing tips! xx

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