Ange’s rant: Your biz is not unique
Welcome to the very first rant from our new series, Ange’s Rants. (It’s the role Ange was born to play!)
Every rant, Ange will tell us what’s making her mad or frustrated or eye-rolly or just generally ranty. But don’t worry – this is all new-biz related and all carefully crafted to help YOU overcome a problem or challenge you might be facing.
Plus, what’s more satisfying than getting involved in a good rant?!
Take it away, Ange
You know what makes me mad? (Aside from those ads on Facebook that tell me I can be making a million dollars a week?) When businesses are held back by the belief that they are different.
That somehow, the principles of marketing that have worked for nearly every successful business in the world won’t work for them.
It makes me mad because it holds fantastic businesses back, and their owners live in stress and fear because they don’t know how to move forward.
I’ve heard it from so many business owners. And there are lots of unscrupulous operators out there who will capitalise on this idea to line their own pockets…but that’s a whole other rant!
So here’s the good news: your business is NOT unique. It’s not! The things that have worked for so many successful businesses WILL work for your business.
To be clear, we are not talking about your business idea, or the skills and experience that only you can bring to your business. Those things truly are unique – no one else can do the voodoo that you do so well… And you should never forget that.
But the same marketing principles that have led other businesses to fame and fortune will work for you too.
Don’t overcomplicate your marketing by viewing your business as exceptional. Don’t lose sleep thinking you’ll never find the answers for your business. Don’t exhaust yourself by trying to reinvent the wheel. Use the beautifully wheely one that’s already been invented!
What does that actually mean?
Simply follow the same marketing principles most successful businesses have followed:
1. Know the problem you solve
What outcomes do your clients get from working with you? What are they worried about when they can’t sleep, that working with you will fix? What will be better for them, after working with you? What do they walk away with?
2. Know WHO has that problem
Narrowing down who you target with your offering can be scary stuff. It can feel like you’re going to be missing out on clients. But by getting more specific about who your ideal clients are, your time, money and energy will go towards people who are much more likely to become clients.
The ‘spray and pray’ approach to marketing (just putting your business out there and hoping someone notices) is expensive and ineffective.
So when you know the problem/s you solve, then you can get clear on who has those problems and is ready to pay for a solution.
3. Create content that solves that problem
So now we know what we solve and who we solve it for, we need to show people that we’ve got the goods. We’ve all heard that ‘content is king’ – and though it’s a cliché, it’s true. Generating content that consistently answers the questions of your target clients will help you become known as an authority in your space. And that’s a sure way you building your client list and your business.
Whenever you’re writing something, ask yourself this question: does this help to solve a problem my target clients have?
4. Put that content in front of the right people
This is where knowing WHO your target clients are becomes vitally important. In order to put your problem-solving content in front of their eyeballs, you need to know where their eyeballs actually are…and of course you can only do that if you know who they are!
There’s no perfect formula to this as everyone is different, but think about 3 key things:
Where might they be looking regularly in general? For example, if they’re a mum of primary school-aged kids, Facebook is a good guess. If they’re a high-level corporate executive, go for LinkedIn.
Where might they be looking for a solution to this problem? Sometimes this will be the same place as above, bit sometimes it’ll be elsewhere, such as certain publications, at an event or in a particular online group or community.
Don’t rely on just one channel. Wherever your target clients’ eyeballs are, make sure you create and spend time on more than one channel to bring in potential clients. (For example, your channels might be Facebook, Instagram and your blog.) Never rely on only one channel – you don’t want to be left with no potential clients coming in or having to start over if an algorithm changes or a key person moves on.
Of course, there are loads of factors that contribute to the success or failure of a business. And we’re not saying it’s easy.
But when it comes to marketing, these 4 core principles apply, no matter what your business is or what industry you’re in.
If you implement these steps and consistently use them to guide the things you do to market and grow your biz, you’ll realise that your business is not unique (in an excellent, stop-struggling-against-the-tide kind of way).
And you’ll start getting more clients. More of the clients you really want.
Isn’t that a bit of a relief?
So what is your business NOT? That’s right. Unique.
Rant over.
Need some extra help?
If you’re finding it tricky to apply these 4 vital steps to your business, download our ‘5 Steps to Getting Actual Clients’ workbook – yours FREE. It’s 15 pages of practical info, exercises and tips you can use TODAY to get unstuck and start getting clients. Get your hands on the good stuff here.