Why YOUR small business marketing MUST lead with MESSAGE and Not media

Why YOUR small business marketing MUST lead with MESSAGE and Not media

written by john c ashworth

This idea is like a bucket of cold water dumped on you in the middle of the night - it's ALARMING, probably even confusing, because what I'm about to share with you will likely be in stark contrast to anything you've come to know about sales and marketing. And the toughest part about this, is that if you're truly willing to listen, the truth is that this is the TRUTH. This is what WORKS! Please, for the sake of your small business, keep reading...

This is one of the BIGGEST mistakes small business owners make when it comes to their small business marketing program. There are often many mistakes, but this is a BIG one and one of the MOST common.

The major mistake most small business owners make in their marketing efforts is that they focus almost exclusively on MEDIA. Think about it for a moment and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Especially if you're a small business owner right now, and you're willing to take a very close look at what you're currently doing, you'll likely find that when you launched the marketing you have in place right now, you almost certainly focused on your attention first on which MEDIA you might use to get your message out there.

One of the reasons this happens is that most small business owners relate to their marketing in the wrong way from the start. They need customers. They want to make sales. So, they focus on their need to do some marketing. On the surface, that makes perfect sense. In fact, right about now you're probably thinking the same thing, and wondering why you might keep reading. But if you want to solve your small business marketing troubles, I encourage you to keep reading.

Tons of money gets wasted because small business owners focus almost exclusively on their need for customers. This is actually one of, if not THE worst reasons for your marketing efforts. Does that surprise you? I bet it does.

Because what you're marketing should really be designed to do, is to communicate a compelling and relevant message to your prospects, your network, your customers, and the communities you serve. Until you have a compelling message that resonates with your target market, you have NOTHING. So, you need to start with your message and expand outward from there. This is not easy to do, which is why it is so often ignored.

Your message starts with your unique selling proposition, or USP. Most small businesses in particular focus too much of their efforts on tag-lines and not their USP. They then take this weak and ineffective idea, which is not a message at all, and put it into the wrong MEDIA and then wonder why it doesn't work.

The reason it doesn't work is that your marketing must always find its way, not just to the right message and USP, but also to the right target market, and then to the right media that reaches that market. Void of this happy little triad, you are doing the equivalent of taking your piles of money out back by your dumpster and lighting it on fire.

-John

About the Author
John Ashworth is an empathetic sales leader with an incredibly diverse background as a salesman, business consultant, marketing maniac, writer, Dad and full time Bohemian Athlete. aka Johnny Renaissance.

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