It seems to me that everywhere I look I am surrounded by the latest and greatest marketing strategies. These range from tips on writing articles and ezines, video implementation, social media networking, website restructuring, events and networking strategies, list building, joint venture partnering, information product development, teleclasses, workshops, and the list goes on and on.
Whew! Just writing this has made my head spin. What about yours?
In any event, I know many of you reading this will say, “Well, Yes! I know that is what I am supposed to be doing to get clients. Action is the key.”
Is it really or is it just another means of overwhelming us?
Just for this moment I want you to stop and ask yourself,
- What if all these marketing delivery tools- because that is what they are—went away?
- Would your business be able to survive?
- Could you still make money selling your services just through a conversation and still generate really good money too?
- Could your business message stand alone without all these marketing tools?
If not, then what is your marketing message really about?
What I have discovered at the heart of every business is a message of service.
A service gifted to each of you owners to help solve a plaguing problem someone else may be experiencing. The clarity in knowing this is the key to your business’ growth, and more over, the key to your helping more people. This, of course, translates into more money flowing into your business account which is providing that service.
However, if you feel like each marketing item you create must be edgy or crafty enough to compete with another piece, post, or presentation, then you really haven’t fully defined how exactly you can help people.
The heart of your business is your mission
If this mission is hidden underneath all that marketing noise, it will not be identified and no one will hear it.
Here is the real problem with all this marketing. The people, the ones who really are struggling to make the changes in their lives and who need that voice –your voice from the crowd—can’t hear you. What they really desire is for someone to say to them,
“I see your pain. I know how to help you. Here, let me show you a better way because I want you to reclaim the joy in your life, family, health, or business”.
If you are not clear whether your mission statement is being supported by your message, then the real service message or mission your business could hold is succumbing to the influx of marketing overload.
So stop doing all this marketing for a moment and start being!
Find the heart message of your business–coax it forth, rally it into your mission, and start sharing it with the world.
Learn better strategies about how you can help people make the changes they so desire—and that is not by having one more certification or program you must study either. Let go of all that doing and start investing into your being—clarify the steps you use right now with your most successful clients and repeat them with more people just like them.
Here is my belief about marketing. People really don’t need another accountant, beauty consultant, or cleaning company. What they do need is:
- Someone to help them feel less overwhelmed by their money challenges,
- A desire to have a person show them how to enhance their uniqueness in order to boost their self-esteem,
- They want a company that will help make their life easier by eliminating their biggest time consuming task at home.
To know the heart of your business means you have to know YOU!
What is your mission?
It is the core of your business that is all wrapped up in the delivery of a service meant to help a specific problem someone is having. Now, all you have to do is claim it!
When you can clearly answer this, your marketing will speak for itself with ease. It will also have a much greater impact that is extraordinarily enriching for both you and your clients.
