I want you to get really real with yourself right now. When it comes to growing your business, are you at plan and on pace? Are you ahead of plan? Are you behind? And if you’re ahead or behind, is it by a lot or a little.
Whatever it is, wherever you are, I want you to know that you still have time to make things happen. Just don’t keep waiting for tomorrow to come, because it never does. Every day that you wake up is today. Today is the day for you to take action!
The Shotgun Approach
When it comes to marketing our businesses, some of the strategies we use follow the shotgun approach. Meaning, they spray everything at your target market.
Let’s talk about this shotgun analogy. I don’t know if you know much about how a shotgun works, but there are a bunch of little pellets in the cartridge, and when the shotgun is discharged, hundreds of pellets spray out. So, it doesn’t necessarily hit your target right on the mark. It hits everything around that center target. Hopefully, some of the pellets land on the target, but there’s no guarantee.
When it comes to growing your business, some of the strategies you use will spray at your target market just like a shotgun. You’ll hope that one or two lands on the target, but again, there is no guarantee.
Investing In Marketing
There are other strategies that are very laser-focused. Some are free, some are low cost, and some have a significant cost attached to them.
Make sure you invest wisely – in your time, resources, and your finances.
Remember, as your business grows, make sure your investment in marketing does, too. The more money you make, the more money you should be investing back into the business.
The last thing you want to do is stop marketing as your business is growing. You’ll see that your business won’t continue those massive growth spurts unless you continue to increase your investment as your business grows.
The rule of thumb is that 9-18% of your annual revenue should go into marketing. Take a look at what it is you’re investing and make sure you’re around that benchmark.
A Simple Approach to Investing In Your Marketing
I’m pretty passionate about attending seminars, workshops, boot camps, trainings, and retreats. This strategy has been pretty kind to me. I’ve had a lot of success with it.
This approach has been successful for me for a few reasons: a lot of my target market will attend the same seminars, workshops, boot camps, trainings, and retreats as me.
I like to pick ones that offer me a trifecta of results:
- I ask myself if I will grow from the experience. I like to look for trainings that will feed my brain, my business, my soul. That focuses on my development and how I can move my business forward.
- I ask myself if referral partners will attend. I like to use these events as networking opportunities.
- I ask myself if my target market will be there. Since I know everything about these people, I know what they like to learn and what it is they look for in an event.