full image - Repost: Here’s some concrete marketing advice that isn’t just an agency trying to generate leads (from Reddit.com, Here’s some concrete marketing advice that isn’t just an agency trying to generate leads)
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I’m so sick of the thinly veiled posts by marketing agencies offering advice with what seem like fictitious case studies to generate leads. Don't be fooled, entrepreneurs!I’ve been building small businesses for 2 decades now and feel like I have some REAL advice to give. I’ve succeeded (and failed) enough that I can now spend most of my time investing in/building start-ups for fun. That, and being able to pursue passions I gave up as a young man is cool, too.Here is some promotion-free marketing advice for all you starry-eyed entrepreneurs dreaming about diving into a Scrooge McDuck pile of gold coins.Read the market: Is the market oversaturated? If so, expect to spend much more time and money trying to break through the noise. Ads will cost more. It will be harder to rank on Google. You’ll be elbowing other social pages out of the way for visibility. Those algorithms can get more crowded than a brothel on two for one night.The inverse is true when you go niche: Cheaper ads, a hungrier audience, easier to rank, and so on. The transparent downside is that niche means a smaller TAM.It’s all about your product: There’s no magic campaign, promotion, or ad that’s going to make a bad product sell. If your product sucks, no one will buy it, no matter what it costs. If your product is awesome, it will sell itself.If you invent a pill that can double a dog’s lifespan, you won’t have to spend much on marketing. Word will get out, and the pills will sell. Dolla dolla bills, old-ass dogs, etc. Conversely, turd-flavored chewing gum will not do well no matter how much you spend on advertising.Most products fall somewhere between the examples above, but the lesson is to spend as much time as possible developing a product that people feel they just can’t live without.Measure real impact: If you’re spending time/money on a paid campaign, measure your input against what you gain. Don’t fall into the “awareness” trap. In my experience, brand awareness happens after a very large ad spend that most boot-strapped start-ups don’t have.Ask yourself, how much did I spend, and have I actually grown because of it? Ask your customers where they heard about you. Look at web analytics to see sources of conversions. Don’t be fooled by vanity metrics. Impressions are great, but unless they turn into sales, leads, or engaged followers, they’re about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.Be careful of who you hire: Here’s where I risk getting downvoted into oblivion by the astroturfing agencies snooping around this subreddit. Getting marketing advice from an agency can be like getting car repair advice from a mechanic.Agencies tend to push services you don’t necessarily need because—surprise—they make more money by doing so. If you let them, poorly managed campaigns and admin costs will eat up your entire budget. And before the angry comments come, this isn't all agencies, but it sure seems like a lot of them.If you hire an agency, see the above: Measure impact.A good consultant is worth their weight in gold: I feel like consultants get overlooked because most people assume they are just MBAs who charge $300/hour to produce PowerPoint slides that tell you to lay off staff (ok, many of them are exactly that).But a consultant can be someone you pay or even a knowledgeable friend. Marketing is a broad and ever-changing industry with a lot of smoke and mirrors. As a business owner who has been doing this for years, I still get caught off guard by current trends in social media, ads, SEO, etc.Find someone affordable/knowledgeable who always has their ear to the ground. I have a guy right now who I pay something like $200 a month to hop on the occasional video call with me and talk through my marketing plans. He knows the latest trends, pitfalls, and has a network of freelancers I know aren’t going to take advantage of me. If I had someone like him back when I first started out, I would have saved thousands and avoided a lot more failure.Collect feedback: Learn what intrigues the early adopters about your product and where they found shortfalls. Find out what else people want from your business and, just as importantly, what they dislike about it. Is your product something people universally hate? Maybe go back to the drawing board.Be patient: It takes time to grow a product and build awareness. Expecting to go viral or have a product explode in popularity overnight is like banking on winning the lottery. If you see reasonable gains and reach incremental goals, you’re onto something. Keep at it.I hope this was helpful. If you like this advice make sure to go to my site and subscribe to my--just kidding--I’m not a self-promoting wanker. Deuces!
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