Small business blog from Farringford Legal

What do you want most as an SME owner? Sales(or orders/bookings) – that’s what pays the bills. But how does an SME generate sales?

Marketing. One of the purposes of marketing is to create awareness of your business or services which solves the problem of your ideal customer/client. For example, you could build a database to start talking to an audience and then get to a point where you can discuss working together – the quote/pitch/presentation. 

So how’s your marketing working for you right now? Is it attracting the type of customers you want who are prepared to pay what you want to charge?

If it is, brilliant and well done. If it’s not, then some questions for you about your marketing 

• How much time do you spend marketing?
• Do you have a marketing budget?
• If you don’t, how much money do you spend on marketing from month to month?
• Do you track where your leads come from?

If you don’t know the answers to those questions, then what might be the benefit of knowing those answers? 

As a marketing strategy, being all things to all people in your marketing DOES NOT WORK. It’s like chucking mud at a wall and hoping some of it will stick so let’s get smart. Accountants report marketing as an expense but you want to see it as an investment i.e you get more income back than you spend on marketing. Can you say that right now?

1. Be crystal clear on your target audience – as Allan Dib states in his book “The One Page Marketing Plan”, aim 100 arrows at the same target not 1 arrow at 100 different targets. Look at your most common customer. Depending on your business this could be down to demographics, industry sector or business size or perhaps consider creating personas.

2. Get your marketing to talk about how you solve customers’ problems rather than ‘bore’ them with a list of what you do. What’s in it for them?

3. As an SME owner you cannot focus on doing just the marketing that you enjoy. You need to work out what works best for you. Monitor the results of the different activities you invest in and do more of what works best. Bear in mind that marketing is a long game. Promotion is your short game. There is a statistic which states that at any time only 5% of a B2B audience will be in the market for your services. But you need to market your product/service to 100% of the market. Never give up!

4. Get sales and marketing working together. Marketing will raise your profile, and pique the interest of your audience, but particularly in the B2B market, you will need a closer. You can expect to keep 'knocking on the door' via various channels, however, most clients will not come to you directly. An effective sales strategy is key.

5. Set a budget, however small, and test and measure several tactics until you know whether they work. For example, if your budget is £1000 per month allocate £100 to ten strategies and then see how many leads and what quality of leads you get from each. Once you have sufficient data, you can reallocate your marketing spend accordingly.

Finding the right marketing strategy will take time so you can’t turn it off like a tap. Follow these principles consistently for the strategies you have selected until you know whether they work or not, and keep asking yourself, "Am I getting a return on my investment in marketing?” If not, change the strategy!!!

Thank you to Chris Churchman from Action Coach for this article.

Farringford Legal have an expert team which can make the process of getting you started with setting up and structuring your business a smooth and simple process.

Call us to find out how we can help you set up your small business.

020 8941 7324  |  info@farringfordlegal.co.uk  |  www.farringfordlegal.co.uk

[The above does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. This information is for general guidance only. None of Farringford Legal Limited, its directors, its employees or its agents accepts any liability to any party for loss incurred by reason of reliance upon any of the information above.]