How to build a marketing machine for your micro business  

Do you remember the Penny Push machine in the amusement arcade? Even as a small child I would love to take a handful of 2p’s and, standing on tiptoes, feed them in one by one, watching and hoping as one dropped to the next level, and then, after more coins, inching them forwards, a drop to the second level until few coins dropped out into the tray below – the excitement!

I was reminded of this today as I sat down to write this blog about marketing as the same principle applies, the aim is too feed a consistent number of leads (2p) into your ‘machine’, then develop ways to keep nurturing (nudging) them through until some new customers sign up (drop out the bottom).

For micro business owners and sole traders’, the reality is that there marketing can be somewhat ad hoc, when business is quiet there is time for a big marketing push and then with new client wins the activity grinds to a halt. Sound familiar?

Business owners often lament the feast and famine cycle of their business yet perhaps their approach to marketing holds the key.

To gain a consistent flow of new clients you need to

• create a consistent, repeatable and manageable process
• actively lead, encourage, support and nurture prospects to become customers
• document the process and regularly measure your results, review and adjust.

After all, as Jill Konrath (B2B sales expert & author) says “Sales is an outcome, not a goal. It’s a function of doing numerous things right, starting from the moment you target a potential prospect until you finalize the deal”

So, as a business owner with your marketing manager hat on – where do you start?

Before you start writing blogs and creating google ads think about what you want to achieve. Are you looking for 10 new clients or 500 this year?

Perhaps you already know that your website visitors are low, or your conversion rate is the issue?

Being clear on your objective forms the basis for your marketing activities. Knowing the value of the new business you plan to obtain will also inform the budget for your marketing spend.

Who are you trying to attract? The more detailed picture you can build up of an ideal client, the greater chance you have of finding them and turning them into paying customers. How you build a client profile will vary by business however a good rule to apply is think how you would describe them as a single individual.

An example B2B client profile could include

• What is their Job title?
• What are their Key responsibilities?
• Where are they located geographically?
• What goals/objective do they have?

• What are their biggest challenges?
• What Social media platforms do they use?
• Key partnerships/associations/networks do they use
• Where do they look for information?
• What problem would you solve or what need do you satisfy?

I find it useful to give each client profile a name, perhaps an existing client who typifies this profile. When you consider different marketing activities ask yourself ‘What would (Kate) think of that?’

The marketing process (or machine) is often shown as a funnel, representing the reality of each stage, where you may start with 100 prospects at the top of the funnel and only expect 1 or 2 customer at the bottom as others ‘drop out’ at different stages.

Traditionally there were 4 stages to the marketing funnel, however thinking the job finishes at the customer order is somewhat short sighted as the final two stages can significantly increase your profitability as the lowest cost way to gain more business.

Let’s look at each stage of the funnel, what is the potential customer hoping to achieve and what your goal should be.

A priority within the marketing funnel is to capture the contact details of interested prospects within your own data base (CRM system). Just because they express interest doesn’t mean it’s the right time to buy, you need to be able to continue to contact them, to nurture the relationship. After all, “Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t.” (Seth Godin)

Your marketing funnel will be specific to your business, offer and customer profile; what works for other similar businesses may not work for you. So, sit down with a blank sheet of paper and draw out your own.

What activities do you have at each stage, what are the channels, the messages, the timings, what triggers each stage, how is this delivered.

Here are some example activities at each stage

Take some time to reflect

• Is your process linked from top to bottom?
• Does this happen consistently, over time, every time?

If the answer to either of these questions is NO , then any gaps or inconsistencies should be addressed.

If the answer is YES , but you want to increase the rate of new clients it’s time to start analysing

• Can you determine the number of people/businesses at each stage?
• Do you need more enquiries into the top of your funnel or are too many disappearing in the middle?
• Which specific channels are attracting interest/enquiries?
• Which specific activities are not working?

You can also review this by working backwards from recent new clients, what was their journey from Awareness to Action. (If you don’t know the answer to this, ask. It’s the best place to start your analysis of what is working)

Now you can make changes ; increase focus/activity on the things that work and adjust or simply stopping the things that don’t. For all new activities you are putting in place, consider what you expect to happen and a reasonable timescale to measure the impact and review again.

Your marketing activities flow directly from your business strategy, If you would like to work on the marketing funnel for your business, if you need inspiration and support to increase your numbers then please get in touch and find out how I can help.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen