The new small business marketing checklist

Let’s talk about new businesses. Specifically, the marketing planning they (ahem!) should be doing.

First of all, trust me, I know how many things a business founder has to think about. General business planning, of course, but also legal things. And tax things. And how you’re going to serve your customers best, and how you’ll make sure your product is the highest quality it can be, etc, etc.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that marketing can wait until after you have everything else figured out. It’s a lot easier to do your business planning with marketing in mind than to try and slap some marketing over the top of an already complete business model. And failing to build your customer base is pretty likely to make you one of the half of new businesses that fail in their first year.

Let’s not be that half, OK?

All right, we’ve established that you need to be thinking about marketing. Now to the nitty-gritty. What do you, as a new small business, really have to have in the way of marketing before you open to the public?

A brand. This doesn’t mean just a logo. Your brand is the personality of your business. It will extend to how you talk to your customers, to the feeling they get when they visit your website or walk into your store (should you have a store), to the words you use in advertising. I like to suggest that people think of the celebrity they feel best represents who they are as a company, but you can also think about the classic brand archetypes. Keeping your celebrity or archetype in mind as you make future decisions throughout your business will help you stay true to your brand, and make your customer experience cohesive and unique.
A brand story/messaging. This is a short paragraph, or two, (or three), that tells who you are, what you do, and why you do it better than everyone else. This will be the story you tell (in various forms) to potential investors, potential customers, vendors, and employees—as well, of course, on your website and in any advertising you do. If you don’t have this story down pat, don’t expect the public to care about your business.
A website. There is no business today that shouldn’t have a good marketing website. We’ve gone into this in detail in another Guidepost, so I won’t do so again. Ya’ll might start to get bored.
A marketing plan. Don’t panic. This doesn’t have to be complex, or even all that detailed. Just do some thinking on who your ideal customer is, how they are most likely to be reached, what messaging is most likely to attract them, what your biggest threats are and how you’re going to counter them, what your budget is, and how you want to measure performance. Then specifically think about how you’re going to advertise (social media? search? print? content marketing?); what you’re going to say and show (what will attract customers to you?); and how you’re going to keep customers engaged and coming back (email and social pages are great for this). Put in place a way to get reviews. Even if you don’t plan on doing any promotion right out the gate (or can’t afford to), putting thought into all this will put you in a much stronger place for when you can.
Social media pages. If you’re planning on doing any promotion through social media (and almost every small business should) then you need to claim your social media pages. Make sure your name is available on all the platforms you’re planning on using. Make sure each page reflects your brand and brand story. Do you need every social platform? No. Pick those that your customers are most likely to use.
Email marketing platform. Every business should be using email to, at the very least, stay in touch with existing customers. Make sure you’ve figured out which solution you’re using, got it set up, and created an email template that reflects your brand.
Any printed collateral that you’ll need. It’s a digital world, and websites rule. But depending on our business you may want flyers, brochures, and other printed material ready to go. Just make sure your target customer is the type that will want to carry something printed off with them, or needs something physical to remember you by.
Your signage (if you have a physical location). Remember, brand, brand, brand.

Different business models will have different (and specific) marketing needs, of course. But for a universal marketing start-up pack, that’s pretty much it.

Easy peasy, right? Frankly, none of this is empirically hard. What many businesses forget, however, is how important it is to integrate marketing planning into every stage of business planning. As mentioned at the top, I advise that you keep marketing at the back of your mind even as you make other business decisions. Trying to decide how that delivery mechanism will work? Think about how you’ll message it to your customers. Making decisions about how people will buy your product? Think about how you’re going to drive traffic to that platform. Trying to decide on new products? Put some thought into how you’ll message those products to your customers. Hoping to build trust? Put in place mechanisms to get new customer reviews.

By putting this thought in at the very beginning, you’ll be able to make decisions that better support—or at least don’t run counter to—your ability to attract and keep customers.

As is probably natural for a couple of long-time marketers, we never once let our marketing planning slip from top-of-mind as we were building our business processes for Urban Sherpa Marketing Co., which made it extremely easy to slip into full marketing mode once we launched. You can, too; all it takes is keeping your marketing brain engaged from the beginning.

Good luck, new businesses!

Happy Small Business Marketing,

Katie & Theron

At Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. we offer marketing advisory, strategic planning, and services for small businesses and startups. Our goal is to make high-quality marketing possible for every business, no matter the size. Think of us as your outsourced marketing department, strategic marketing adviser, or even your phone-a-friend marketing lifeline. Our goals is to help you grow your business without blowing the bank.

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Our gift to you: do you really need that holiday marketing video?

‘Tis the season for corporate holiday cheer, which in this day and age means holiday email after holiday email, from every business contact you have ever made—and even probably some you haven’t. And a high proportion includes their version of the dreaded holiday video.

Now, I’ve done competitive research on corporate holiday videos. They range from the mind-numbingly boring (the vast majority), to cringe-inducingly awkward (a healthy second), to the occasionally truly brilliant. Yes, brilliance is possible, but let’s just say it’s as rare as a snowflake in August.

Yet, for some reason—possibly peer pressure?—many companies I work with feel an uncontrollable compulsion to make and send their own every year.

Which takes me to my main point: from a marketing perspective, should you, as a small business or startup, invest the resources into making a holiday video?

First, let’s get the obvious out of the way. If you are in a business that a) needs to attract excellent employees, and/or b) your ability to successfully sell your services depends upon your reputation as awesome and possibly creative people (I’m talking about consulting firms, design firms, and medical practices, for instance, not companies that sell “things”), and you have tons of cash burning a hole in your pocket, and you are willing to commit the not-inconsiderable resources required to create a holiday video that falls into the brilliant category, then, by all means, go for it. It probably makes sense for you. People will gladly watch a brilliant, creative, and awesome bit of clever holiday cheer, and like you for it. You may not want to send it before the end of the year, but more on that later.

If, however, you are like the vast majority of small businesses, firms, and practices, your holiday communications are not the largest part of your marketing strategy, nor should they be.It would be totally ridiculous to devote a large percentage of your budget to any marketing effort that is scheduled to go out during the one time of the year in which nearly everybody is massively distracted. Which means that any video you produced needs to be on the cheap, and therefore has a high likelihood of not being particularly interesting or fun. Not a brilliant marketing strategy, right?

So why do it at all?

I know that some of you right now are thinking to yourself, “well, we don’t spend a lot on our holiday videos, and they are great!”. To which, I say, well, that’s possible. I have seen super low budget videos that rock because the company has some amazingly creative person with the true touch of a filmmaker on staff. But just to make sure, I offer a challenge: find a friend that you trust to be brutally honest (both to themselves and to you) and ask them if they’d find your video interesting if they didn’t know you. (And if they do tell you it’s riveting, then please share it in the comments below so we can all enjoy it, too!)

See, as we’ve discussed before, people really aren’t that interested in your business except as it relates directly to them. They don’t care that you got an award, or wrote a case study. They don’t really care that you opened a new location. They really don’t care that you added a new employee or two. And since most holiday videos tend to focus on the featured business and not much on the customer, they are by definition a snoozefest.

All of which is to say, you really don’t need to produce a holiday video, and in fact, you probably shouldn’t. There are many more important things you can do with your resources.

But if you must, here’s a few tips:

Make it about your customers, not about you. And I mean really about your customers, not a sneaky way to talk about yourself in relation to your customers.
Make sure it’s fun to watch. And short. Spend your time and energy creating a really unique concept that can be executed on the cheap, and watched in under a minute.
Send it out a week or two into the new year. Yes, I mean it. I’ve tested it, and you get much better open rates and watch rates if you send out a new year’s celebration email instead of a holiday video. Why? Because you aren’t lost in the crowd of all the other holiday videos. Instead, you hit people when they are back in the rut again, maybe not so thrilled about it… and looking for distractions.

Now, before I sign off, one caveat. If your goal for a holiday communication is a heartfelt reach out to your customers, a thank you for their support during the year, and an honest-to-goodness attempt to let them know how special they are to you (in other words, less about traditional marketing, and more about personal connection), then, by all means, you should send something. But wouldn’t a handwritten note, no matter how short, mean a lot more than… a video?

Happy holidays (and small business marketing),

Katie & Theron

P.S. We wanted to add a bad holiday video at the bottom of this post because… irony. But we didn’t make one this year, so we can’t. But have a wonderful holiday season, and we’ll see you in the new year!

At Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. we offer marketing advisory, strategic planning, and implementation services for small businesses and startups. Our goal is to make high-quality marketing possible for every business; no matter your size, we’ll help you grow your business without blowing the bank.

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Three quick, cheap, and easy marketing wins for small business

I speak to a lot of small business owners (particularly the really small business owners) who tell me they don’t do any marketing because they can’t afford marketing. To which I respond:

You’re probably already doing marketing, but you just don’t know it (whether you think of it that way or not, your website is important marketing!)
Doing a tiny bit of cheap marketing is better than doing no marketing at all

and

How the heck are you going to grow your business without marketing?

But I do get it. Small business owners (and bootstrapping startups) don’t exactly have lots of cash sitting around burning a hole in their pockets. Heck, neither do we. And most people tend to think only of giant marketing efforts and Superbowl commercials when they think of “marketing”.

But I’m here to tell you that, not only is it super important that you do some marketing, but that you (wait for it) CAN AFFORD IT.

And to prove it, let’s talk about a few easy (and cheap) marketing wins that any business can do, even without a ton of marketing know-how.

Social media advertising. This one is seriously a no-brainer for all businesses, but especially those with small budgets. To be clear: I don’t mean just posting an update on your business Facebook page. I mean either creating and ad (or a post that can act as an ad—see content marketing, below), and promoting it through your Facebook ads manager, or the equivalent ads manager on the other platforms. The great thing about social media advertising is that you can pick the customers that you are targeting pretty darn accurately, and you can spend as little or as much as you want. As for which platform (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) is best, pick the one(s) that are most likely to be used by your ideal customers.
Making your website super awesome. We’ve spent a lot of time on this subject here in the past: check it out here.
Basic content marketing. Content marketing means giving out free information to potential customers in order to engage them and earn their trust. Content marketing is especially effective for service companies, or companies that have long sales cycles or a high price point, because it establishes you as the expert in your field and keeps your name in front of people while they are deciding whether to buy or not. And, other than your time, it can be essentially free. Need an example? Write a blog about your area of expertise. Or do short Vlogs (video blogs) about what your business does. Start a podcast. Provide tips. Share information. If you’re a pet groomer, for example, share how to keep your pet calm while clipping its nails, or how to prep for a grooming appointment. If you’re a naturopath, perhaps tips for treating seasonal allergies. The idea is to make it so that people keep seeing your business name while they are waiting for their dog to need its next haircut, or worrying about their dripping nose. It is important to remember, though, to keep the information valuable to your customer, and NOT in any way a sales pitch. The power of content marketing is that people want to consume it (and therefore get to know you), and ideally, even share it with their friends. If you make it all about you or use heavy-handed and obvious sales tactics, they won’t care. And, contrary to what you may believe, you absolutely don’t need your content to be super slick and expensive. In fact, for many businesses, a homemade look helps make it feel authentic. Now, to super-power your content marketing? Post it on social media, and promote it like an ad. Boom.

If any of this seems complicated, do not stress. It’s actually easier than you think. And although you may need to do some playing around and trial and error—and though your end result may not look like an ad for Nike or Coke—stay strong and just do it.

Because, remember, a tiny bit of marketing is more effective at bringing in new customers than no marketing. And that’s the honest truth.

Happy small business marketing,

Katie & Theron

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The official Urban Sherpa great website checklist.

In an earlier post, we went out on a limb and made the claim that a really good website is the most important marketing investment a small business can make.

In fact, just the other day I was giving a local business a free phone consultation (yes! We do that!), and the business owner said her biggest concern was how their marketing could help them stand out from their competition. Of course, I suggested she update their website. Why? Because in this day and age, your website is huge. It is your opportunity to share what is important about your business—and how you stand out from the competition—to an audience that has already taken the trouble to look you up.

Of course, the key term of that first paragraph is “really good website”. While even a crappy website is arguably better than no website, you really do need a decent one to reap your just rewards.

But never fear! We have a website development checklist for you. We’re here for you, folks.

You tell what your company does in a short sentence (or two) in clear, direct language, in a place where it’s the first thing people see. Bonus points for saying it in a clever or eye-catching way.
If you sell physical products, one or more is featured prominently, using good, high-resolution photography.
It’s super clear what you want people to do now that they are on your website. This means:
- If you sell products online, make it compelling for people to start shopping.
- If you have a brick and mortar location, make it super easy for people to find you (if you have a restaurant, maybe put a “make a reservation” button front and center?).
- If you sell a service, make your contact/lead form super prominent (you must have a lead form). You get my drift.
You tell potential customers why they need you or what you sell. Give a few scenarios (or show with pictures). (Example: you’re a painter. Show (labeled) pictures of interior paint jobs, exterior paint jobs, and repair work you’ve done. This will remind people that they need you in all those cases).
Your messaging (the words you use) and look and feel are thoughtfully calculated to resonate with your target customers. More bonus points: they make them feel a positive emotional reaction to you and your product.
You demonstrate your value proposition(s). This should include how you’re different from/superior than other people in your line of business. Note: you don’t always have to explicitly state your value propositions; just make sure they are implied clearly.
The site is easy to navigate. Test this on someone who has never used your site. Super cool websites that you can’t figure out how to find the information you need? Negative bonus points. (Sorry hip designers).
You’ve kept the amount of copy (words) to a minimum. Remember, nobody reads.

I am the first to admit that there is an art and science to an amazing website, stuff that goes far beyond anything I’ve listed here. There are user interface designers that specialize in making websites optimized to squeeze every last drop out of every visitor.

But, dear small business owner, for the vast majority of you, these eight things are enough to make sure you have a good, well-functioning marketing site. And that’s a heck of a lot more important than winning web design awards.

One last note before I sign off. Even if you don’t look at this list at all, or even if you think it is all hooey, please don’t underestimate how important a good website is. Do not slap up a placeholder that you’ll get to someday. Do not think “that’s good enough” to yourself and move on to other things. I know you’re busy, but a good website really is beyond important.

Happy small business marketing,

Katie & Theron

At Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. we offer marketing advisory, strategic planning, and services for small business and startups. Our goal is to make high-quality marketing possible for every business, no matter the size. Think of us as your outsourced marketing department, strategic marketing adviser, or even your phone-a-friend marketing lifeline. We help you grow your business without blowing the bank.

How to fail at marketing your small business: try to do ALL the things

Let me tell you a story. I recently talked to a small business that had hired an experienced marketing person to put together a marketing plan for them. That person put together a very professional and thorough marketing plan. A plan that simply didn’t work.

What went wrong? Well, that thorough marketing plan, with all the best practices and bells and whistles, failed to take one thing into account: the fact that it was a small business. With a small business’ small budget and lack of manpower. There was no way to actually execute that marketing plan, so things ground to a halt.

The thing is, this isn’t the first small business I’ve talked to that’s had this problem with their marketing planning—and a lot of them (especially larger small businesses) can’t blame an outside marketing consultant. They are doing it to themselves.

If there is one thing most entrepreneurs and small business owners have in common, I’d have to say it’s a highly-exercised overachiever gene. Not surprisingly, right? Very few totally relaxed “it’s good enough the way it is” people decide to throw their entire life into growing a business on their own. Nope, it takes a little congenital fire in the belly.

The problem with an A-Type belly fire, though, is that phrases like, “you don’t have time” or “think small”, or “this is good enough for now” tend to go in one ear and out the other. They want to be the best. They want to DO IT RIGHT. THEY ARE FILLED WITH GOOD IDEAS.

But (and this is a huge but), to build a good marketing plan, you need to identify the most effective ways to get the right message in front of the right people, within the human resource and financial constraints of your business. I’m serious. Don’t just think about money. Think about who is going to actually execute your plan (there are a lot of really low-cost marketing efforts that still take a heck of a lot of time). This means that you need to pick and choose. Not all great ideas make sense. And depending on resources, even marketing best practices that are standard for larger businesses (like a CRM with marketing automation) may or may not make sense.

Here are a few ways to double-check yourself as you work on your marketing plan (more on how to tell if a marketing idea is inherently good here).

Be honest with yourself. How much time do you (or your people, if you’ve got ‘em) have to devote to marketing initiatives? How much time will it take to execute what you’re planning? Do you need to pare down?
Prioritize. Once you realize that you can’t do it all, take a good hard look at everything you’re planning, and choose the one that will work the best for the amount of time and money you can invest.
Let go. Let go of the idea that you have to reach all your target customer bases. Let go of the idea that you need to be on every channel or every social media platform. If you read articles on what the huge brands are doing for their marketing and want to emulate them… let that go, too.

Sometimes, you need to step back from the “right” way to do something, and instead do the right way for you. This means hard choices. It can mean dramatically limiting your scope. But executing a great marketing plan that is small in scope is much, much better than failing to execute on a marketing plan that reaches far and wide.

Or losing your mind trying to do all the things. By yourself.

Happy small business marketing,

Katie & Theron

At Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. we offer marketing advisory, strategic planning, and services for small business and startups. Our goal is to make high-quality marketing possible for every business, no matter the size. Think of us as your outsourced marketing department, strategic marketing adviser, or even your phone-a-friend marketing lifeline. We specialize in building efficient marketing programs to grow your business without blowing the bank.

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