Why Your Marketing Doesn’t Need To Be Everything, Everywhere, All At Once

When we’re a small business owner, or a solo-preneur, even, we have to wear many hats. We’ve got to be the chief, the chef, and even the bottle-washer; simultaneously, blindfolded (and sometimes backwards and in heels).

This also means we have to be alert at all times, lest something in our business falls apart (again). The unfortunate by-product of that is that we also have the attention span of a puppy.

Especially when it comes to…well, everything.

But today, we’re going to talk about your marketing, and why you (and your marketing, for that matter), don’t need to be everything, everywhere, all at once.

The reason for this is simple.

Every marketing method out there works.

(More or less)

You just have to pick one and stick with it. And when it comes down to choosing your marketing adventure, it really comes down to what you have more of: money or time.

So which is it? Money, or time?

For those of you lucky bastards with deep pockets, you can treat yo’self to a monthly subscription with TheKnot or WeddingWire, or you can check your local favorite venues to see if there’s a preferred vendor list you can pay to get on. You could also pay for ads and offer referral fees to anyone who sends business your way.

But if you’ve got a little bit of elbow grease to spare, you can learn how to write better blogs that can attract and convert traffic, post more frequently on social media, and nurture an email list full of prospective clients. There’s a reason why this is the preferred path for most folks; because if you’re like me, “free” is always better :).

Whichever adventure you’ll end up choosing, you can rest assured that they’ll all work (more or less).

The problem that most folks have is that they see something working for another business, they’ll drop everything they’re doing, and chase this shiny new thing….until they encounter the next shiny new thing that comes into their peripheral.

Listen, there’s nothing inherently wrong with keeping your ears close to the ground and keeping up with the times. Otherwise, we’d all be marketing our services on MySpace and paying a small fortune to get listed on the Yellow Pages.

The problem with this approach of cobbling together every new marketing method that comes into your orbit, it’s that you’re better off at being proficient at 2-3 marketing methods, than trying to be a master of all of them (and then end up sucking at all of them).

How’s that saying go? Jack of all trades, master of none?

Friend, the same applies to your marketing, too.

If you want to know which marketing method(s) work best for you, or if you’re considering supplementing what you already have, consider the following:

If you’re blogging, are you posting at least 1x/weekly, are your posts optimized for your audience/searches, and is it already generating leads for you?
If you’re on social media, are you posting at least 1x/daily, tagged/hash-tagged properly, with content that speaks to your target audience, and it’s hitting your traffic/conversion goals?
If you’d like to start doing this new marketing idea(whatever it may be), do you have the time, effort, or money to set this all up?

If your answer is an emphatic “no” to any of these questions, your most prudent path forward is to continue focusing on the lowest hanging fruit first (social media, SEO, and referrals), which are currently the easiest, cheapest, and effective ways to market your business (at the time of this writing).

But you probably knew that already.

If you happen to need help in that department, I can definitely help: https://benlau.com/education

TLDR;

Every marketing method works. It just comes down to whether you have more money, or more time.
Learn how to leverage your website and social media accounts before doing anything else. It’s free, and it serves as the baseline for all your marketing efforts. Think of these two marketing channels as your storefront (your website), and the person dancing on the street corner wearing a costume while juggling a giant arrow that says “GO HERE” (your social media channels).
To be successful in your business, you definitely do NOT need to be everything, everywhere, all at once. Hot-dog-for-fingers might help, but they’re not necessary :). Just focus on what you know, get exceptionally good at it, and that piece of the marketing pie is yours for the taking.