The first step to marketing a small business

The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step….Confucius

The first and most crucial step in creating a marketing strategy for your small business is to identify the reason WHY people would want what it is you’re selling.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling products or services – if you don’t know WHY people buy – then you won’t know HOW to persuade them to buy.

Over the past two decades – I’ve worked with literally hundreds of small business owners and without exception – success or failure ultimately lies in the business owner’s ability to understand WHY people would want to buy what the business is selling.

I was recently contacted by a client with whom I had worked 5 years ago.   Our work together stalled when this client refused to identify why people were buying his services.

See, when people pull out their checkbook or credit card to make a purchase – they’re doing so for one of three reasons:

1. Achieve a GOAL
2. Satisfy a DESIRE
3. Solve a PROBLEM

Sometimes – you can hit the marketing trifecta and score on all three points – but the easiest way to craft a marketing strategy for your small business is to identify a PROBLEM that your customers or clients have.  Your marketing messages are then simply a way to share your SOLUTION to the customer’s PROBLEM.

In the post Great Moments in Niche Marketing I share how targeting the right product to the right audience literally creates marketing magic.   However, you have to have a basic understanding of your target audience first.

In the case of my former client – for some reason which I will never understand – he was repulsed by the idea that the services he offered might actually solve a problem for his potential clients.

At the time, he decided that the problem with the marketing of his business services consultancy was that he didn’t have enough letters following his name.  So, we stopped working together and he went back to school.  Over the past 5 years, he’s obtained an MBA and a PhD.  He now has enough letters after his name to feel confident about offering his business consultancy services to business owners again.

However, the same old problem is staring him in the face as he hopes to embark upon a building a successful business.  He still can’t identify the problems his services solve for his potential clients.

Oh, and there’s another problem he’s facing as well – when he approached me about working with him again he got a bit of sticker shock.  See, my rates are significantly higher today than they were five years ago.   I encouraged him to pick up a copy of my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results. It’s literally a step by step system to identify your ideal target audience and walks you through crafting a powerful marketing message that will break through the clutter to connect with buyers.

If you’re having trouble identifying exactly WHY people would want to buy the products and services you have to offer, pick up a copy of the book.  Because the first step to marketing your small business is to identify WHY people would want to buy what you’re selling.