Marketing.
Everyone knows they have to do it, but how? There are great stories about people who started with nothing but an idea and built a business from Facebook up, but is that feasible for everyone?
Hardly. In fact probably not…
Good marketing and building a business takes time, money, expertise, and sometimes the humility to say, “I can’t do this for myself; I must outsource!”
So how do you know when to DIY and when to let someone else take the wheel? My latest podcast is here to help.
Podcast Transcript
Marketing.
Everyone knows they have to do it, but how? There are great stories about people who started with nothing but an idea and built a business from Facebook up, but is that feasible for everyone?
Hardly. In fact probably not…
Good marketing and building a business takes time, money, expertise, and sometimes the humility to say, “I can’t do this for myself; I must outsource!”
So how do you know when to DIY and when to let someone else take the wheel? This podcast is here to help.
This podacst has two main focuses:
- What are your assets? Do you have the time, the money, or the expertise to build your own business?
- How can you put your assets to work for you? Which of your options–agency, freelance, or DIY, or maybe a mix of them all?–will be your best bet?
What Are Your Assets?
When you sat down to start your company, I imagine you did some thinking about all of the types of capital at your disposal. Maybe you made a list, maybe you spoke with an advisor, maybe you just spoke to yourself every morning in the shower, but at some point you decided: this is what I have going for me, and these are the other things I need for success. Take that same tack here. Be honest with yourself. Do you know marketing? Do you have the time to build and execute campaigns? Do you have some money to budget out for marketing along the way?
Expertise
This is the easy one of the three. If you are a marketer at heart or by profession, then you’ve got this part of the game covered. As a marketer, you can outsource other parts of your company and focus on spreading the word in all the ways that come naturally and are fun for you.
If marketing doesn’t come naturally, but you still want to go it alone and build your business, you’ll need to figure out what percentage of your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly budget of both time and money you can spend on learning the basics.
If you’re not going to do it on your own, and you’re going to outsource, you’re still going to have to know a little bit about marketing.
You’ll want to start following some blogs petergianoli.com is a great place to start. Welcome! Or obviously you have stumbled upon this podcast – this too will help. And there are also more traditional channels that you can use to help you learn. Google and Udemy both offer online marketing courses or you can go do some more formal education.
Time
This is the big one. You probably already started thinking about how much time you can spend on marketing. Ask yourself these questions:
- How much time out of my work day can I spend researching marketing?
- Can I give some of my free time to researching marketing?
- How much of my time can I devote to laying out a marketing plan?
- Do I have the time and the resources to write content, including social media posts as well as full-length content, that will promote my brand?
- Do I have the time and resources to promote other forms of marketing that I plan on pursuing (including podcasts, webinars, trainings, conferences, white papers, etc.)?
- Do I have the time to design and implement ads to drive traffic?
- If I decide to outsource, how much time can I devote to planning, goal-setting and following up with my partners?
Money
For many marketers, this is the biggest issue, but it shouldn’t be.
Spending your own time on marketing can take you away from the main focus of your business, which could also take away from your main profits.
It doesn’t matter if you’re running a one-person show or a 100-person show; If you don’t have a designated marketing team on staff, taking the time to learn marketing and implement a plan is going to take time away from your business.
Look, if outside help is effective, your initial investment in marketing can continue to pay returns, all while freeing you up to work on your core business.
How can you put your assets to work for you?
Once you’ve figured out what you have and where you’re going, marketing-wise, you need to figure out how much of it you should do yourself and how much of it you should outsource.
No entrepreneur succeeds as an island
Everyone needs help in some capacity. And yet, the average business owner is befuddled by conflicting advice when it comes to this most necessary part of growing a business.
Building a business is tremendously difficult. That’s why so few of the people who attempt it actually win.
Likewise, simply hiring an SEO consultant is not going to turn your brand new product idea into a multi-millon dollar profit machine… look, if it were that easy, the person you’re trying to hire would have already done it all on their own.
For some reason the advent of digital marketing has resulted in a lot of capable businesspeople becoming confused and overwhelmed and consequently reaching for the first quick fix that come along.
Yes, there is much to learn and master when it comes to digital marketing.
If you’re a start-up or a small- to medium-sized business owner, understanding and deriving value from your digital marketing efforts can be one of your biggest challenges.
There’s little doubt that business owners need to complement – or even replace – traditional marketing tactics with strategic digital marketing.
Businesses that don’t understand and adapt to this massive shift towards digital are likely to trail the competition.
Whatever industry you’re in, there’s a very strong probability that you’ll need the web to help you have success.
But rather than just SEO 9 which is mischievously marketed as free marketing for your business – none of this works without a complete suite of effective digital marketing tactics such as:
Social media
Content marketing (e.g., blogs, website copy, infographics, email campaigns)
Sales Funnel development
Website function and design
And follow up regimes.
In fact, I refer to this as a Client Generation System and this is the essence of my Business in a Box service that I offer to clients just like you who are grappling with getting started or revamping their business and need more clients but aren’t sure where to start who to trust or whether to DIY versus getting it DFY
If this is something you are grappling with visit my website
https://petergianoli.com/business-in-a-box
For an explanatory video of what my program has to offer.
