Whether you’re just starting a small business or launching a tech startup, one of the most common challenges is the lack of a clear sales, marketing or commercialization plan.
Without a plan, people get busy completing tasks they hope will make sales.
People might engage in a little business networking, set up a profile on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google My Business. Next they may experiment with social media and boost a few posts to drive awareness. Then inevitably, they build a brochure website about themselves and what they sell.
Unfortunately, their brochure website does little to drive sales. Marketing busywork rarely produces more than a frustrated entrepreneur with a thinner wallet. These random acts of marketing distract people from doing the work that would have made a difference.
The solution is to have a plan that amounts to more than ticking items off a sales and marketing to-do list. We invite you to consider sales and marketing as a system to build, not a set of tasks to complete. The purpose of your system is to reach, engage, enroll and retain target customers at a profit.
Often the most cost-effective thing you can do to accelerate growth is to engage a marketing coach. Their role is to help you focus and to get you doing the right things, in the right order to get results. To get a sense of where to focus, review the activities outlined in step-one and two of our marketing systems development framework.