Tricia Sciortino:
Welcome back, Amy. Thanks for sticking around and answering one more amazing question for our bonus question and our bonus next step. So, for small business owners or even solopreneurs who do not have somebody dedicated to do marketing for them or the organization, where is it that they can go for help?
Amy Appleton:
You know, I know a lot of people, they’re wearing all the hats and they’re pretty much doing everything all the time. You know, there are so many great places where you can go and just, and get help. Sometimes they, people may not actually want help. So, let me start there. My answer is they actually may want to do it themselves. I know a lot of solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, honestly, they’re the best marketers and salespeople that the company has for a long time until they’re actually ready to hire people. But if that is not in their area of genius, I’m gonna say you can go and get a master’s in marketing on Google basically at this point. The information is out there on how to do marketing online and just, I would say, arm yourself. HubSpot is a great place to go. They have an amazing amount of information on basic marketing, small business forums, industry forums, Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups for people in their industries. That is a great place to go and actually find out what is working for other people.
Amy Appleton:
And then, yes, I mean, when you’re getting to that point where you do need help, then I think you can think outside of the box too. I know that I would say even our virtual assistants, they can sometimes come in alongside business owners who already know what they need done and actually help in the execution of that before you go and hire your first marketing professional, or before you go and get a consultant or hire an agency. There’s a lot of different steps that you can take to do your marketing as you’re scaling your business.
Tricia Sciortino:
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I think the model of BELAY is built off the concept that you can do things fractionally and marketing is another area with which you can do that. You know, you can find part-time support that just gives you what you need at the lowest level to get started, even if it’s a few hours a week or a month — just finding the right person to kind of come in and help you as you get started. But you don’t need to be able, you don’t need to have to make the jump to go all the way to full-time employee. You can kind of scale up in that direction. So, I mean, that’s how we did it way back in the day 10 years ago.
Amy Appleton:
Shoot. We still, I mean, honestly, to this day in our own marketing department, we will still bring in the help that we need until we need that help full-time. I mean, it is a repeatable model that just makes sense when you’re, when you’re growing.
Tricia Sciortino:
Yeah, I think absolutely to think a company you know of size, even using that same model the way we do is that sometimes there’s a new area inside your business that just does not need full-time focus. It might only be a few hours at a time. And so you can start that way and grow into it regardless of the size of your business. And I think that that has worked so well for us over the years. It has helped us serve our clients over the years that we can serve people fractionally and scale with them as they grow. And there are other organizations out there that do that for different sectors and business, aside from the ones that we serve. So, yes, I think that’s a great tip, guys. Well, Amy, thank you. It’s been wonderful to spend the day with you today.
Amy Appleton:
You’re welcome. It’s been fun.
Tricia Sciortino:
I appreciate the time to chat with us today about all things marketing and share with our listeners. Guys, thank you for joining us for our bonus next step. Be sure to join us next week for more practical tips and actionable tools to advance your business one step at a time. Start by making today count.
