In my blog How Do I Create a Business Strategy I wrote about your One Focus Strategy and how important it is for small business to keep things simple, especially when you are a solopreneur fairly new in business or struggling to grow and expand.
Today I’m going to talk about focusing on How Do I Create a One Marketing Channel Strategy. There are so many marketing channels, and I know how scary it can be to pick just one and focus on it. The great thing is that by focusing on One Marketing Channel you’ll become an expert at that Marketing Channel because of your focus and experience.
Let’s look at the major marketing channels for small businesses
| Channel | Avenues | Cost |
| Online | Display, Search, Affiliate, Content | Low to High |
| Email (by itself) | Newsletter, scheduling | Low to Med |
| Networking | In person and 121 meetings | Low to Med |
| Speaking | In person, online videos | Low to Med |
| Direct Mail | Flyers, Catalogs | High |
| Mass Media | TV, Print, Radio | Extremely High |
For most small businesses the choice is going to likely be Online or Networking, both of which will likely be supported by email. Direct Mail and Mass Media are fairly cost prohibitive for most small businesses to be their One Focus Strategy Marketing Channel. Speaking is one of the Marketing Channels that crosses the line between marketing and service areas. If you are using it to generate revenue you’ll want to consider it a service area, even though it will also provide you additional marketing benefits.
As you begin to think about building your One Focus Strategy Marketing Channel plan here are some questions to ask yourself.
- How do you choose to which marketing channel is right for you?
- Is your vision global or more local?
- Do you like meeting people in person?
- Do you like writing?
- How consistent and persistent are you willing to be?
- You can see yourself doing this multiple times a week?
- You’d rather delegate this activity?
- You’d rather spend time with people than on your computer?
- You like learning about internet/online marketing?
Once you have chosen your Marketing Channel you need to get clear about what you want to accomplish by using this channel. Remember as I wrote earlier, your focus right now is on getting more clients. So how doing this going to help you get more clients? What do you need to do to get more clients?
Keep in mind the intent of marketing is to create awareness and attract potential clients into your space so that you can find out what they need and then share with them how you can solve their problem for them.
After you know what you want to accomplish it’s time to lay out a plan. It doesn’t matter what Marketing Channel you are going to focus on the planning process is the same. As you create this plan focus on what you want to accomplish in the next 90 Days.
- Write down your Focus and what you want to accomplish.
- Determine what major activities you are going to do. Only incorporate one new activity at a time.
- How often are you going to do those major activities?
- Lay those out on your 90 Day Focus Calendar.
- What pre and post activities do you need to do to accomplish your major activities?
- Lay your pre and post activities out on your 90 Day Focus Calendar.
- What process do you need to create that will support doing this long term.
- What additional skills do you need to become even more effective?
- What experts in this field can you learn from?
As you build your plan and start the process of implementing marketing via one channel it’s important to be consistent and persistent. Be consistent in the regularity of what you’re doing. You need to be doing some marketing activity every day. Persistence means you keep doing it; you keep learning and becoming more effective at what you’re doing. If something is not working tweak it until it works or you know it’s not going to work and then try something else.
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Jane works with Women Entrepreneurs & Business Owners who are Overwhelmed. My focus is helping them regain clarity, let go of ambiguity, uncertainty and fear, while bringing focus to their goals and objectives. I ask the hard questions knowing that you’re ready to answer them. My clients and colleagues call me a thought provoking Business Therapist.
The Sage Mentor – Grow Your Business program is designed to help women entrepreneurs increase sales and expedite growth of their business.
Jane is also the author of Put Your Big Girl Panties On and Kick Your Fears in the Ass.
Additional information is available at www.lovasconsulting.com. Contact Jane by email jlovas@lovasconsulting.com or by telephone at 703.981.3157