Marketing Fairy #16: Sorry That I Have Failed You. + How To Choose Right Marketing Channels For You.
+ Small gift for all productivity seekers.
Dear readers,
I'm sorry that I have failed you. My Marketing Fairy newsletter was supposed to arrive in your inbox last Friday. I spent the entire week crafting a draft. I wasn’t happy with the results. I felt like an imposter.
Why am I writing this? No one will read it.
Why would this topic be important to anyone?
This is something everyone knows.
I felt a lot of pressure.
Then, Friday arrived. I rushed with our kids to karate training and then a volleyball game. I felt guilty. But, I knew, it would be less damaging to me to fail you than to send something low quality just for the sake of sending a newsletter.
While consistency is crucial, especially when I’m just building my brand and expert authority, I sincerely believe my heart and honesty in everything I do and everything I create for you is even more critical.
I hope that the gift at the end of this letter will help you forgive me :)
Things to consider when you choose your marketing channels
People who randomly choose their marketing channels rarely create substantial success in their businesses. Even worse, some of them lose their energy and focus trying to utilise every marketing channel available, even if it’s not the right fit for them and their business.
Marketing channels are all offline or online ways to reach an audience and potential buyers.
No matter how good your product is, it will never take off if you don’t show it to the right people at the right time and place. The ultimate goal is to avoid spending money on trendy channels because they might not work for you and your product.
If we go back to the basics and the 4Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion, you need to make sure to:
You need to have a good product,
Well-crafted price
And, of course, a marketing strategy is in place.
If you’re just starting, don’t make a science out of it.
There is no magic framework; the crucial thing is to make a plan and, through time, figure out what’s right for your business.
In one of my earlier articles, “The Most Important Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before Starting a New Business,” I explained the significance of using the Canva business plan model when starting your business, as it captures everything essential without overcomplicating. In that model, channels are one of the eight essential questions to respond to:
1. Define your target audience.
To know how to sell, you must know to whom to sell.
Craft your ideal customers. The better you describe them, the easier it will be to sell your great solution to their problem (your product/service).
PRO TIP: Once you have your ideal customer, find a similar picture of that person. Write their name and print that picture. Every time you work on marketing your product, look at that picture and try to be in their shoes.
2. Find where your audience is.
You won’t chance teens on Facebook ( I “love” when my teens say, “Mum, FB is for old people”) or company CEOs on Tik Tok, even if some of them use these networks.
Start a conversation in a place where your potential audience is.
Go to them, don’t wait for them to come to you.
3. Consider your goals.
Are you building a brand, trying to sell online, or searching for inbound leads for your solopreneur business? Each goal will need to be in line with the channels you use. If you’re a local cafe owner, it makes sense to use local offline advertising, as well as signage, for example. If you have e-commerce, you can’t sell through LinkedIn, but you can work on your brand awareness there if that’s the goal you set for your business.
4. Analyse your competition.
Sometimes (actually, almost always), we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Just do what others do (but better, hehe). What channels do your competitors already use successfully? You can copy the same approach. You can even tap into more opportunities by:
Stepping into channels where your audience is already handing out, but your competitor is not established yet.
Look what you can do better on the same channel than your competitors.
5. Test channels and optimise.
If you have just started, it is a fair assumption that you don't have big bucks to spend on marketing. So, do not throw your money through the window trying to be on every channel and growing on every channel at the same time (you’re not Coca-Cola or Nike, c’mon :)).
Why?
As a beginner (even if you’re a marketing professional), you’re not an expert in using every channel: you can’t be a master of Facebook ads, content/blog writing, making websites, a skilled LinkedIn writer or well-versed in Pinterest ads.
Start small, pick just one to three top channels and start building/learning.
Don’t start paid channels until you master free channels. Website, blogs, email marketing, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube have myriad free channels. Yes, you’ll be investing - your time. Outsource if you can find someone to do it cheaper than you (but still good!). But, if you do it alone, this is the pathway:
Learn how to use your chosen channels properly.
Start building a community. Help before you try to sell!
Leverage. Referrals, word of mouth, reviews, testimonials, you name it.
Scale.
My opinion and piece of advice is:
If you’re a solopreneur or a small business with a modest budget, introduce paid ads in the scale phase, not before, unless you’re an expert in marketing or have a budget to outsource someone to do it properly.
Even then, that person will need time to understand your business, ideal customers, market and product and then map out paid channels roadblocks.
Interesting things I found last week
Do you rely on AI detection tools to check if AI writes the content? Maybe you shouldn’t. My friend Nikolina has recently tested one of the Turnitin AI detection features. See the results.
If you want to be more productive, apply the “one in, one out” idea to your wardrobe, the content you consume, the newsletters you read, or even your habits.
Quote that matters
Segmentation makes businesses 60% more likely to understand their customers’ challenges and 130% more likely to know their intentions.
Simply put, if you know what your audience is struggling with and what they want, you can market to them in a way more effective way.
Neil Patel
How can I help you
Do you know I’m at the beginning of my new side-hustle journey? I’m documenting the entire process so every future marketing solopreneur can learn from my mistakes and winnings.
If you need help with marketing strategy or content marketing, I offer the following:
a FREE 30-minute meeting to identify your needs
followed by my marketing clarity outline that will give you a clear direction.
Reply to this email if you need help, or send this to a friend who needs marketing help.
p.s. If you have an individual marketing question, I am always happy to provide a response for FREE, just for my subscribers.
Gift
For the ones who are interested in time management and productivity: Download “Five Habits That Save Me 10 Hours Per Week HERE for free.
If you liked this post, please share it with your friends or your network so more people can find me.