You and the Power of 3.
Here’s what I believe you and I have in common – we are in the business of business. By this, I mean that we own or are responsible for a business that must provide either a service or product. That’s our business – to run a business (and hopefully not to the ground!).
OK, with that out of the way, we must acknowledge that for our business to be successful (more than an expensive hobby) we must promote our business in an effort to generate additional revenue and spur growth. The big question then is “How?”
I believe in the “Power of 3″ as I like to put it. Three is a powerful number. How many legs do you put on a stool to make it stable? Three. What is the strongest structural shape? A Triangle. Three. How many boys do I have? Three. Wait, that’s a different power discussion we’ll save for another time. The Trinity? Three. How many swings in baseball? Three. So, let’s leave it at that and assume I’ve made a decent case for the power of three.
In marketing it’s not just enough to “build it and they’ll come.” You’ve likely seen this kind of marketing approach, or lack thereof. I can tell you that I’ve seen incredible talent and service from individuals and businesses that simply failed because they assumed people would just find them like a blind squirrel looking for a nut. You HAVE to promote. But how?
There are so many options for marketing and promoting your business. In fact, it’s absolutely overwhelming … even for me, and I’m in the marketing business. How do we cut through the myriad of options and focus on the most successful method? This is part of the problem … we’re looking for THE one solution. There is no silver bullet.
We must diversify our efforts over multiple marketing approaches. But good golly miss molly, how do you manage all the different marketing vehicles? There’s just too many! Enter the “Power of 3.”
If we were to try and utilize all the marketing avenues at our disposal we’d resemble a fox chasing 37 rabbits at one time. Guess who would win? The rabbits! The fox would lack focus. He’d get distracted. He’d start in one direction then make a quick jerk in another direction finally finding himself standing all alone, empty handed – all the rabbits safe in their burrows.
The fox knows better and we do to. You have to narrow your focus. Choose three marketing avenues. For the sake of discussion let’s choose direct mail, Internet strategies and educational venues. Now, that’s still rather broad but it’s narrowing it down a bit.
1. Direct Mail: How about sending three postcards over a one year period. Your business will benefit by keeping your message and brand in the front of your target audience’s mind. Don’t be shy about a direct call to action with your campaign.
2. Internet Strategies: Sure you have a website but what are you doing to drive traffic? Spend some effort on three ways to drive traffic via the Internet. One, launch a pay-per-click campaign. Two, advertise on a site which attracts your target audience. Three, take a systematic approach to social and business networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
3. Educational Venues: You have information that others would benefit from hearing. Put together a 45 minute seminar and offer it for free to a trade or charity organization. Submit editorials to a trade publication. Teach a continuing ed class at the community college. Even if your educational pursuits don’t directly create leads or business you will be surprised what this processes will do for sharpening your direction for your business.
So, are you feeling the love here? Seeing how with some focused and concentrated efforts you can tame the wild marketing beast? Are you wishing you’d spend the time reading this article doing something else like clipping your toe nails? I’m always interested in what others are doing to make a difference in promoting their business. Tell me. Let’s all get smarter, and better, together.
- Kyle Dreier