During my 20 year career, I’ve owned two small businesses and worked as a marketer in a number of others.
The marketing challenges that come with running a start-up business or small enterprise are varied and require knowledge of a number of different marketing disciplines. Often, a small business doesn't have the luxury of an in-house marketing team or even a single marketing manager.
Keep reading to understand more and access my answers to some of the questions I get asked the most by small business owners.
The Small Business Marketing Catch 22
How does a business with limited funds develop in-house knowledge of all the aspects of marketing that they need?
Or how does it afford to employ an agency or multiple agencies with the required skills?
This is a significant challenge. You find yourself in a catch-22: limited funds to grow your business but unable to increase your funds without business growth.
And, if a small business owner can find the funds, by the time a digital agency has been briefed about your online marketing, a different company appointed to support you with PR, a researcher to uncover customer insight and a brand specialist to develop your proposition, not only are you run off your feet just managing all these individuals you’re also not doing your day job of running the business!
This is where I can really help.
First of all, my job is to help you navigate the world of marketing, the jargon, the fads and trends - what’s important and what should you just not waste your time and money on.
I can help you prioritise your marketing activity to drive a short term return on investment without compromising your overall long term brand health or business aspirations.
As a marketing expert with knowledge across all disciplines, I offer a one-stop shop for small businesses so they can get advice and support on everything from marketing strategy to daily management of their social media accounts.
With my unique perspective on what marketing services it takes to really get a business going, I can help you make smart choices about where to spend your time and money up front, and help you prioritise what you should be doing at each development stage.
In some ways, you could describe a small business marketing consultant as an independent sounding board. I advise my clients on what they should NOT do as much as I help them to move forward with what they should be doing.
Typical queries I hear on a regular basis
Q: Email marketing is dead. No-one reads them anymore so we’re not going to bother sending our quarterly newsletter. What should we do instead?
A: Ok, before you plan the funeral, you should know that email marketing is still very much alive and kicking.
And honestly, the Coronavirus pandemic has actually given email marketing a real shot in the arm.
Data from bounceX.com suggests that open rates on emails are up 40% over the last 3 months!
If email marketing is not working for you, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I can help you identify new or unconventional ways to engage with your customers and prospects through email marketing.
Q: I need a new website. My old website doesn’t look up to date and I want to sell more products. Who should I get to build it for me?
A: Whoa, hold your horses there.
This is a bit like wallpapering the inside of your house without checking if it’s structurally sound.
It might look nice, but that will be irrelevant when it falls down around your ears.
There could be many reasons why your old website isn’t bringing in the numbers.
Before you rush off and spend a fortune on a shiny new website, can you answer these questions:
Who do you want your website to talk to?
What questions might they have about you?
How are you going to answer them?
Let’s take a little time to review your brand proposition. Maybe even speak to a few customers. Work out what currently works and what doesn’t.
Trust me, if you take the time to do this, the rest will come more easily. I have a colleague (Liz I’m talking about you!) who describes this as brand ‘dominoes’ [© Liz Davis], knock over the first one and the rest will fall naturally into place.
Q: I need a new website and one web developer I’ve approached says it needs to be built using X platform but another provider has recommended Y platform. How do I know which one is right?
A: This is a really common question. Especially because the web developer will most likely be recommending THEIR preferred tool of choice rather than the solution that will give you the best outcome.
It’s a bit like asking a BMW salesman what car you should buy. Chances are, they’ll recommend a BMW.
The outcome you’re looking for is not just about having a great site that looks good with the functionality you need, but you also need to consider what’s going to be best for search engines, how you plan to update the site and how it will support your content strategy.
I highly recommend getting independent support to write your brief at the very beginning as this will save you so much pain (and money) in the long term.
Q: My business has a LinkedIn page, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter set up, we’re thinking of adding TikTok, but I’m really struggling to post more than once a week. What should I do?
A: With so many platforms available to provide an online presence for your business, it can be tempting to try to use them all.
Each platform has unique selling points and some will be more relevant for your target audience.
My advice would always be to review each one individually and prioritise those that will generate you a return on investment quickly.
By trying to keep across all of them, you may actually be weakening your brand presence. Sometimes, it's better to narrow your focus and post more frequently on one site than trying to post daily across every single platform.
I can help you to prioritise, understand where your audience is, what they want to see and when you should be posting. Not all days and times are equal when it comes to social media.
Q: I’ve heard content marketing is really important. We’ve tried writing a couple of blogs a month but we’re really struggling with ideas and we don’t have loads of time available to spend writing. Since we haven’t noticed much benefit from the few blogs we have written, we think it’s probably a waste of time, so should we stop?
A: Put simply, if you are not feeling the benefits of content marketing, then you are not doing it right!
Content Marketing should be a cornerstone of any marketing plan.
If you’re not engaging with your customers through carefully, thoughtfully and engagingly written content, then you’re leaving money on the table for the competition.
It’s time to stop seeing content marketing as a ‘nice to have’ and start realising that this could be the most powerful tool in your marketing armoury.
But, a word of warning, not just any content will do. I can support you with the best way to execute a content marketing strategy and writing for search engines.
Q: I’m really struggling to grow my audience on Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter / Instagram, where am I going wrong?
A: Contrary to popular belief, gaining followers on social media isn’t something that can be done overnight.
We’ve all heard the amazing stories about these influencers who wake up one morning with 100k followers but that’s just not the reality for most brands.
Building your following takes time, patience and, most importantly, a really focused social media strategy.
Not sure where to start? I can help you sort the wood from the trees.
What next?
Visit the Sarah Lambley Marketing website
If you need advice on any aspect of your marketing strategy or execution, drop me a line.
You can find more Frequently Asked Questions here
Your initial consultation is completely free of charge and it might just help you to avoid common pitfalls.
Book a FREE consultation in Sarah's calendar
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