Sep 11, 2019
If you are a life long learner, always listening to podcasts, reading blogs, following people on social media - learning as much as you can to bring your business forward but wonder how it all can fit together - then this is the episode for you!
Today’s episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right!
I’ve had the privilege of talking to many small business owners over my time doing this job, and just recently I’ve done a tour of some rural towns in NSW that don’t often get attention so far as workshops etc go. Shout out to everyone who came along in Deniliquin, Moulamein, Moama and Tocumwal – you people rock! Especially those in Moulamein, a town of a few hundred that pulled 20 people into a workshop! That’s awesome! Big towns struggle to get numbers!
But there’s one thing I find myself saying over and over again, for what purpose. Those who know me well are now laughing at me dedicating a podcast to that question, because, well, I hate it! Well I did hate it.
You see my first business mentor used to say it all the time. ALL THE TIME. And I hated him for it. On return from my second mentoring session, my business partner Jo, asked me, how it went, and I said, “if he asks me for what purpose one more time, I’ll shove ….” – you get the picture.
And yet, here I am. Using the same question on my clients in my mentoring sessions.
Before I get too far into this conversation – let’s do the Discovery of the Week first.
THIS WEEK’S DISCOVERY!
Everyone know how much of a fan I am of Canva. Canva.com – it was the discovery of the week on my very first podcast and if you aren’t using Canva – then GO DO IT NOW! Sign up for free now! Actually, no, when this podcast is finished ….
But I love to have many things up my sleeve. It’s always good to have other creatives you can turn too.
On my tour of NSW, some of my audience members, who hadn’t heard of Canva, had been using Poster My Wall – found at www.postermywall.com – I’ve had a look, signed up and I have to say, it’s no Canva and it’s impressive. I am really liking some of their templates. Especially, as the name suggests, for posters.
So, go check it out. Have a look at Poster My Wall – let me know in our Facebook Group – Like Minded Business owners, what you think.
As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too!
Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you’d like to share, please do so. Email me at jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler!
FOR WHAT PURPOSE
As I’ve already mentioned, this simple 3-word question used to drive me bananas, because it made me think, WHY AM I DOING THIS?
But it’s a perfect question isn’t it?
Certainly, one I’ve used a lot in the past couple of weeks.
So, let me put this in perspective for you to get great value from this question too.
I stand on stage (or out the front of audiences) and talk on this podcast, do lives on social and post as well and I talk about social media, my absolute love for email marketing, I talk marketing until the cows come home, giving lots of value, value, value, tips and tricks and my best kept secrets. I try and give you information for where you are in your business – trying not to overwhelm but give next steps or fresh ideas.
BUT, the question you need to ask yourself is FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
I can sit, stand, yell, talk all I want about driving more sales, bringing more leads but you need to
- Think – how does that relate to my business, how can I make that work
- Is that marketing idea, strategy, tips, trick, what will work for me?
- And (the big question) if it does work – what that means for me, what does that look like for my business.
So, I’ll give you some examples, so you can get your head around what I’m talking about.
Let’s say you’re going to run a VIP event in your bricks and mortar store, and you ask me how you should market it.
I might say things like, Facebook Ads, email marketing, creating an event on Facebook or Eventbrite, I might suggest a few offline strategies as well, such as printed invitations or even a targeted mailbox drop.
All these things will work – if worded correctly, if target appropriately – they will get you the outcome you want – people to your VIP event.
But you need to ask yourself, how big do you want this event? How much marketing do you think you need to do to make the event a success? What does success look like?
For what purpose are you marketing?
If you have a database of 1000 people but your bricks and mortar store is small and only 20 people at any one time can fit – then perhaps a letterbox drop or a Facebook ad might get “too much” traction and you simply couldn’t handle that many people in the hours of your VIP event.
Therefore, just because all those marketing strategies might work well, doesn’t mean you should do all of them – you simply couldn’t handle the results!
Or maybe you’re marketing a product. If you only have 10 of these particular products, then running a Facebook ad to the sales page on your website, targeting half a million people, is just silly – you simply don’t have the product to sell – even if only 1% of them wanted to purchase.
If you are at the capacity in your business (real capacity, not just “busy being busy” capacity), then undertaking more marketing to drive even more business your way is counterintuitive – you can’t service those people probably even if they do come – you’re already stretched to the max.
If you have a pizza business, for example, maybe you can’t physically make any more pizzas – you’re max with staff, you’re max with machinery etc etc.
All these examples are ones I have come across in my time as a mentor and business coach. You might be thinking, well ddrrrr, that makes total sense, but trust me, some business owners don’t stop to think how their marketing strategies are or will affect their business.
I think we should ALL be life long learners, so please don’t stop learning, listening to podcasts like this one, taking notes at the next workshop you attend or taking stock of where you are (your current state) and where you would like to be (your desired state) – but be aware and ask yourself, every time you go to do something in your business or chance something – FOR WHAT PURPOSE.
Just because someone says you must be on Instagram – doesn’t mean you should be. What’s the purpose? Is it to drive more leads – can you handle more leads? Is it to sell more – do you have the stock to sell more – can you logistically handle more sales?
I guess the thing that sits above the horrid sentence FOR WHAT PURPOSE is your goals.
If you do X, will it lead you closer to your goal of Y.
Please don’t do things because your competitors are doing it, because someone at a workshop said you MUST do it, or because everyone else is ….
You are unique, your business is unique (because you are) and therefore you need to be doing what’s right for you and will help you meet your goals.
So, next time a bright shining object (or as we say in my family “squirrel”) comes across your desk, stop and ask yourself that little question – FOR WHAT PURPOSE? Learn to love-hate it as much as me!
Got questions? Well head into my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners – so if you’re got questions, head over their and tag Michael in them and I’m sure he’ll answer them in no time at all. If you haven’t joined yet, the link is in the show notes or just go to Facebook and search Like Minded Business Owners. Not joined yet. Well welcome … let’s do that – it’s another great way to stay on top of what’s going on in the world of social media and marketing!
I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying!
But that is all for Episode 36. I’d love to connect with you all on social – so let’s get social on social – I’m on all the platforms, so let’s do that!
…….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!