As a small business owner, it’s common to find yourself caught between what you think you want and what you actually need. You may find yourself setting ambitious goals and creating elaborate marketing campaigns, only to realize that it’s not resonating with your target audience. Or, you might find yourself focusing on “vanity metrics” instead of real, tangible results. This is where understanding the distinction between your wants and your needs comes into play. In this blog post, we’ll dive deeper into how to discern between these two categories and how to align your marketing strategy with your true business goals.
When it comes to marketing, wants refer to the things that you and your team may desire or think would be beneficial to your business. This could include a sleek new website or a viral social media video. On the other hand, needs are the essentials that actually keep a small business running. Just a couple of examples are generating high-quality leads and increasing and building a loyal customer base. While wants can be tempting and exciting – particularly in the short term – small business owners must remember that they should always be focused on the long-term success of the business.
As a small business that largely works with other small businesses, we come across these unrealistic wants all the time. However, it is our goal to set people in the right direction, so that they focus on the things that will actually lead to the sustainability of their business.
Just about every small business or marketer says they want to see more leads come in. But that’s not entirely accurate. What they really want are more qualified leads, who will be more likely to turn into customers. Having a huge number of leads can actually be a waste of your time if most of them are not qualified and therefore very unlikely to actually purchase your product or service. It would be better to have a smaller number of more interested leads than a large number of uninterested leads.
We know, having a lot of followers on social media looks good. But it doesn’t always make sense for small businesses to have a lot of followers. If you are a small shop located in a smaller city, it wouldn’t make sense for you to have thousands upon thousands of followers. If you did, a lot of them probably wouldn’t be located anywhere near you, which means they are extremely unlikely to become customers. Instead of focusing on the number of followers you have, focus on how you can increase engagement with your current followers. These are people who have already expressed that they have some interest in your business, product, or service. How can you help them take the next step to purchase? This is a much less labor-intensive process than convincing new people to follow you and then purchase.
If you have a website, you’re probably always looking for ways to increase how many people visit it. But think about this similarly to how you should think about social media followers. If you’re getting a ton of traffic from people across the globe, that traffic essentially means nothing (unless of course, you ship worldwide). Rather than focusing on the sheer volume of traffic to your website, make the focus how targeted that traffic is. The more targeted, the more likely it is that they turn into conversions.
How many times have you thought that you’re not posting enough, whether it’s to your website, your social media profiles, or elsewhere? You may believe that getting a post out every day, even if it’s low quality, will be more beneficial than posting just a few high-quality posts. We are here to tell you that is not the case! Again, volume doesn’t equal success. If you can’t manage posts every day of the week, don’t worry. It’s better to post strategic, high-quality content, even if that means only posting a few days a week
Another common misconception is that if your advertising strategy isn’t working well, you just need to put more money behind it. It would be nice to always have more money to spend, wouldn’t it? But as a small business, funds are probably limited. If your advertising isn’t going a well as you’d like, it would be worth your time to analyze who you are targeting with your ads. Are your ads being seen by the people most likely to purchase your products or services? If not, spending more time creating the right targeting strategy might be the best option.
Marketing goals are most often met when everyone is on the same page. To avoid any misunderstanding or disorganization, make sure your entire company knows what your goals are. And remember that these might change over time. Keep everyone updated when strategies, priorities, or methods change. This will ensure that everyone works together to create even better results.
One thing is for sure: marketing is a huge undertaking. And it is especially so for small business owners who already have a seemingly never-ending to-do list. If you are overwhelmed or unable to give your marketing the attention it deserves, 98 Buck Social is here to help. We can take multiple responsibilities off of your plate, allowing you to spend your time doing what you do best. Everything from your daily social media posting and social media advertisements to search engine optimization strategies and blog writing can be done by our expert team. Get in touch with us to learn more about how our services can help your small business thrive.