1. Grow from where you are.
Most business owners hesitate or fail to market their business for one of four reasons:
- They believe customers will find them as long as they create a great product or provide excellent service.
- The business owner doesn’t have enough time to serve customers, lead the team, and market the business.
- The company doesn’t have enough money to hire marketing help.
- Marketing isn’t the business owner’s expertise so he/she doesn’t know what to do.
Sales fuel the growth of your organization, which means you must start marketing your business where you are with what you have and what you know to become what you envision in the future. Don’t wait. Get in the marketing game.
2. Get your team to buy-in to the bigger idea.
In small businesses, it’s common for one team member to do multiple jobs as the company gets off the ground. You can also share the responsibilities of one job with multiple people. However, it’s important for them to view their assignment as more than another to-do on their list; it’s the way in which the organization will grow and take better care of them. Getting your team to have this perspective requires getting them to buy-in. To gain buy-in, Amy recommends you use principles:
- Know your team. Identify the team members that have extra capacity, respond well to challenging assignments, enjoy the variety of a side project, or show an aptitude for marketing.
- Start with the why. Tell each team member why you’re enlisting their help and why their marketing assignment is important to the organization.
- Acknowledge what’s in it for them. Whether it be recognition, new work experiences, or one-on-one mentorship, lean in to what will motivate that person and find a way to provide it.
- Find something for them to stop doing. Automate, delegate, or eliminate something previously on their plate to permanently free up their capacity. The key would be to make the tradeoff decisions as the leader to avoid overwhelming your team.
3. Don’t add too much too soon
It’s easy to overwhelm your team when you’re asking them to step outside of their comfort zone and adding more work to their plate. Give them the best opportunity to succeed. Maximize your team’s effort and your ROI by limiting what you work on and focusing on a few marketing channels and initiatives at a time. Be sure to first delegate tasks you’re currently doing so you, the leader, are freed up to drive the organization’s growth. What’s on your list today is likely what you’re going to feel most confident training your team to do.
BONUS!
In the episode, Amy introduced the Wheel of Marketing to help you organize your marketing channels. In this post-interview chat with us, Amy answers the question, “How do you know which marketing channel or approach is right for you?”
Be sure to listen to the bonus minisode to help you determine where you should focus your energy as you market your business.
What marketing tasks should you consider delegating or automating? Consider any task you find yourself doing on a recurring basis (i.e.daily, weekly, monthly, etc.).
Which of your existing team members have extra capacity, demonstrated appreciation for challenging assignments or variety in their work, or shown an aptitude for (or interest in) marketing? Assuming you were going to distribute all of your existing marketing tasks to these individuals, outline what you’d assign to each person.
What’s one marketing channel or initiative would you explore if your organization had more capacity?
If you can’t afford to hire a marketing employee or agency, distribute the marketing tasks you’re doing to your internal team. — Amy Appleton
Anytime you ask somebody to do something, you need to start with the why. — Amy Appleton
For consistent growth, sales and marketing is not an option. — Lisa Zeeveld
(04:05) Today’s listener question: “How do I market my business without a dedicated marketing employee or department?”
(05:10) The primary strategy for marketing your business before hiring a dedicated employee — ‘marketing by committee’
(06:21) Why entrepreneurs hesitate or fail to market their business
(07:40) When a business should try marketing by committee, how it works, and why it’s important
(09:06) How to get your team to buy-in to their new marketing assignments
(12:27) How BELAY leverages marketing by committee to support the organization
(14:52) How to focus your marketing efforts to accelerate results
(17:56) Tricia and Lisa share their takeaways
(19:59) Today’s One Next Step: Download our Wheel of Marketing — a marketing task delegation tool so you can begin marketing by committee.
