What if I had to restart my business?

What if I had to start over?

I was just asked this question for a members-only presentation to new authors. What would I do? What do I advise my clients to do?

Step away from the computer.

Too many people turn on the computer and design their entry into social media marketing with their eyes on other people’s work. That doesn’t mean you can’t take inspiration from other people’s work. Even I took great inspiration from Start with Why.

Step away from the computer and get out your whiteboard, poster board (you remember those- right?) or large piece of paper on your largest table.

Give yourself permission to be in the creative flow and put marker to paper.

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before market online and these are a few that I come across in almost every consultation I have with small businesses:

who are my customers?
what do they need?
how can I provide that?
is it economically feasible?

Am I branding myself or my business?

You really need to know which road you are going to travel. Knowing the answer to this will determine every decision going forward.

If you are branding yourself, you will need to focus on how your customers find you (good SEO) such as eCommerce SEO by Vecro Tech. And then once they find you what you provide to them, make sure to avail more SEO based services for best outreach.

If you are branding your business, you will need to focus on creating a company “voice” and “personality.” Gone are the days of a cold corporate entity.

What is my visual marketing strategy?

A visual strategy is a really big subject and the topic of many of my talks and training programs.

The world is moving from text-based learning to visual learning. Master the art of teaching sales through images and success tips from sites like https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/04/sales-tips-for-success.html and you will be the go-to authority in your field.

You really need to get your visual marketing strategy figured out before you open any social account.

Spend time developing your:

style and tone
color and font
size

What are my gifts and challenges?

Am I a good copywriter? A good graphic designer? Do I suck at time management? etc. And through this process decide what you will do and what will be outsourced. Through this process create your Team. If you want to go beyond the solo-entrepreneur status a dedicated Team is vital.

Don’t let the perceived budget constraints stop you. Step out. Turning Pro is an important step.

THEN I would open my social accounts.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, G+ and possibly a few more niche sites depending on my business. Once you have all the above things (and quite a few more) figured out – then open your social accounts.

Understand how to use modern marketing strategies.

Did you learn to market in the 80’s? If you are a Boomer, you most likely have those technique stuck in your mind as the only way to market effectively. You would serve yourself better by researching and developing how attraction-based marketing works before your first tweet, post or video.