Episode 003: My 3 Bucket Marketing Strategy for Easy Consistency

September 8, 2021 Meredith Paige

Taking Back Joy Podcast • Episode #003:

My 3 Bucket Marketing Strategy for Easy Consistency

Marketing your small business at the best of times can be a really tricky juggling act with everything else you got going on. But layer on top of that the fact that you're also operating your small business in the midst of chaos.

Right now, you might think marketing is the last thing on your to do list because hey, you've got far more urgent things screaming at you right now. I want to give you a reason to keep the marketing ticking over right now, even when it seems like the sky is falling.

On a good day, consistent marketing gives you a really good foundation to bounce off when you do need to activate your audience (whether that's on social media or through email) and drive more business to your business. However, when it seems like no two days look the same it's actually a really good opportunity to stay connected to the human beings that you decided to do business with in the first place. That can have much more profound effects than just dollars and cents.

So in this episode, I want to give you my three bucket strategy for marketing yourself consistently in a way that you just ticking a box, meeting a need, filling in the blanks, and then getting back to what you really need to do. If you're doing these three things every week in your business, all you need to add on top is time and patience. This will stop you having massive gaps in your social media, it will keep you top of mind with the customers and also reminded there is a whole wave of people out there that not only care about your business, but they care about you. So let's jump in.

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Simple framework for small businesses marketing

Episode Transcript

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Synopsis

Meredith Paige 00:01

Marketing your Small Business at the best of times can be a really tricky juggling act with everything else you got going on. But layer on top of that the fact that you're also operating your small business in the midst of chaos.

Meredith Paige 00:19

Meredith Paige 00:38

Meredith Paige 01:07

Episode Content

Meredith Paige 00:00

So as luck would have it, I find myself launching a podcast in the middle of COVID! I made the fantastic decision to pivot in this direction, right when everyone's being bombarded with marketing messages. But being a small business marketer, that's what I do. And it's what keeps keeping the lights on at the moment.

Meredith Paige 00:20

So having said all that, I'm trying to be really mindful about the content I am creating in COVID. One of my favourite go to topics, 'the idea of healthy boundaries, making for healthy business and healthy personal life' really doesn't seem appropriate right now, because everyone's boundaries have gone right out the window, mine included. So to make a point of that right here, if you feel like your boundaries have gone right out the window, and you think you're failing, please don't think that. We're all kind of in that boat at the moment. If you're listening to this at some future point, there is going to be a lot of COVID e-context in this, but I really hope the principles I'm covering in this episode have broader appeal, which I do believe they do.

Meredith Paige 00:59

So not just in COVID, but more generally speaking, I want to give you a really easy framework that I use as my go-to for marketing my business in a way that gives me three boxes to check and then I'm out of there and back to doing actual business. If you're juggling the homeschooling, and the daycare, and the working from home, and trying to figure out ways to keep the doors open, and how to take your business online, none of which is sustainable, and none of which anyone is able to do well at all at once. So again, please don't be hard on yourself, if you feel like you're not doing a very good job of a lot of things right now. If you're wearing more hats than normal, right now, I want to walk you through this framework so you can at least make sure that you're marketing your business consistently maintaining good habits around that and you know that bit's done and dusted. And it's done in the most efficient and effective way possible, leaving you to get back to the really hard stuff that does actually require more of your attention and focus.

Meredith Paige 02:00

So I suppose now more than ever really need smart, efficient marketing strategies for small businesses, particularly in regional rural areas where we know how to get scrappy at the best of times, this unfortunately is the best, or conversely, worst of times. So reasons why you might be sort of thinking, 'Meredith marketing is the last thing on my radar right now, as insert previously mentioned list above, there's 100 bajillion reasons why marketing on Facebook or on Instagram or emails right now is not on my radar'. Well, I want to give you a couple of reasons why it's probably good to at least keep things ticking over on the marketing front.

Meredith Paige 02:36

First and foremost, it lets people know you're still here, whatever that looks like. Whether it's you've been forced to shut down because your industry is incompatible with current restrictions, or your for being forced to go completely online, or even outside COVID context, even if just business is really busy, and you have another chance to make an appearance in all your communication channels, it's really important to let people know that you are still here. And it's even more important in our small businesses in our regional and rural areas. Because we feel really connected with the businesses and the people inside those businesses that we do business with regularly. Like you'll be able to recall half a dozen of your regulars for example, who you know their name, you know their kids names, you know what grade their kids are in, you know what they get up to you have, like whenever you catch up with these customers, the first 20 minutes is you guys talking about everything apart from why they're seeing you today, because that's just how relationships work in small businesses in small towns.

Meredith Paige 03:36

I find often find so quickly my clients go from being just customers into this weird kind of middle grey area where they're like friends, but we don't hang out socially. When I see them, it's like I'm seeing a friend and I get excited for their wins, I want to know that their kids are doing well, I want to know that they're doing well. So for most I guarantee for most people who run small businesses, your clients probably tend to fit in that middle grey area where they're kind of somewhere between a customer, a friend, a colleague. And it's really important that you let them know that you are still here. And as much as you care about them, they probably care just as much as about you because you are a regular fixture in their life. They used to seeing you weekly, monthly, they used to either speaking to you on the phone or chatting with your staff, or asking for your opinion about whatever it is your area of specialty is you mean something to them because otherwise they wouldn't be doing business with you specifically. It's as important for you as it is for them to let them know you're still here.

Meredith Paige 04:37

Secondly, it's a good way to remind them how they can do business with you right now. Business may be up and running as per normal and they might not realise it. And so they need to be told that look, you know, doors are still open lights are still on. Come on in. everything's normal for us. For whatever reason. It could be industry specific could be the way you set things up. Or you might have had to pivot and go to like a click and collect or an online ordering. Maybe a delivery service, again, showing up on social media or Instagram, or any kind of platform or newsletter or things like that video, it's a really good way to keep reminding people as to how they can do business with you right now.

Meredith Paige 05:12

It also saves you from there being gaping holes in your communication channels, which can take a lot of effort to recoup and fill back in again, when things go 'back to normal'. I feel like saying 'back to normal' is like saying when pigs fly right now in this COVID context, but when things do settle down, and day to day life resumes some sort of normality, it's really important, you don't have gaping holes in your social media or any communication channels. It takes too long to get people back into the momentum of seeing you hearing from you, knowing that you're around and knowing what you stand for, and how they can work with you.

Meredith Paige 05:47

I've experienced that for myself and I'm sure we've all been in small business where you hit a bit of a quiet patch, typically, you know, could be that time of year where you always know you go quiet, so you throw a lot of energy at all the marketing strategies that you've ever wanted to try, you do a big run up, and then suddenly, because you're marketing yourself consistently, the work comes in consistently. And then it gets so busy that the marketing goes out the window, because you then you've got to get on top of all the work you've committed to. But then once that paid is out, then things go quiet again. You constantly in a boom and bust cycle of marketing to get the business in the door freaking out because you've got heaps of business in the door, because hey, marketing works. And then by the time it will peters out, you've then got this gaping hole in your marketing that you then have to scramble to fill back in again because while you were busy, the lights went out, and it looks like you've been kidnapped on social media. So you want to make sure you're preventing that as well.

Meredith Paige 06:35

Never has it been more important than writing out to reintroduce and re emphasise the humanity in our businesses. Because again, a small business owners, we the decision makers are often also on the front line of our business, if not only two steps away from it. We deal directly often with all our clients or our customers, our suppliers, our contractors; at businesses of our level, we are our business. And it's so important that we maintain that humanity in our business and keep showing the people we do business with, in whatever direction that business is flowing, that we still care about them. Because right now, in the more immediate COVID context, everyone is feeling very isolated and lonely, not only physically but in the way that they think and feel about how things are going on as well. So it's really important now, and even in better times, when we're not all living with a very wacky set of restrictions, it's important to let people know that you see them, you hear them you understand their needs, and that you're here to help. That's one of the fundamental principles of marketing is knowing who your people are, knowing what they need to hear and knowing how you can draw a line between their needs and what you can do to help. That's marketing 101.

Meredith Paige 07:46

So with all that in mind, I want to teach you my three bucket system for creating content, wherever you choose to that to live on, try not to make this social media specific, because for a whole bunch of reasons, I don't want anyone's marketing to live wholly and solely on social media, I would rather than you might take a much more broader approach. And it simply is replicated on social media. But it isn't holding solely engineered for Facebook or Instagram, it can kind of live anywhere. These three buckets, convert, connect, convey convert. So the idea is that if you're doing these three things once a week, whether it's sending an email, posting on social media or creating something that communicates to these three specific concepts, then your marketing should be ticking along nicely. And it's at least a very good one or one level marketing content creation strategy that you can then only build on, it's a really good foundational strategy.

Meredith Paige 08:37

I normally start with connect what it actually like to leave that to last. So I'm going to kick this off with convey. So it's the second bucket normally filled which is conveyed. And what this does is once a week, you need to be creating something that establishes your expertise. It's something that this is not and this will probably probably be another episode for another day. It's like a core piece of content that answers a specific question/provides assistance with a specific problem /offers a specific insight relative to what it is that you do and where you specialise. What it does is it gives people an insight into what it might be like to do business with you the benefits they stand to gain, but in a really helpful genuine way. Because you aren't giving away a little bit of something for free, you're giving a little bit of packet information away that is intended to help them get ahead. Even if it's just a little bit with a problem. They're having open some mindset, something they're struggling with a goal they want to achieve. If you can find a way to package up a little bit of your expertise, one that in a way that won't send you broke. It's just a little bit of advice that you give away in a conversation or in an email if someone asked your question, if you can find a way to package that up, and then give that away once a week to the people who are interested in your business and we're following you on social media probably signed up to receive emails from you.

Meredith Paige 09:53

Then each week you're going to be putting out there really high value that establishes you as an expert in your field and someone that is well worth doing business with so called examples of what a core piece of content might look like. And again, all I'd like to really elaborate these on a separate episode. But you could do a podcast. That's what I'm doing right now. It's 15-20 minutes of my thoughts and ideas and experience that I can share with you, that doesn't cost you a thing. There's no obligation after it. It's just me showing you what I know and showing you that I'm here to help you get ahead. You could write a blog, you could do a video, I've recently wrapped up doing Instagram lives in favour of podcasting but that was very good for me for a long time. And as an unintended side benefit, it also helped me get really good at presenting and regulating my voice and slowing down because I tend to have a million mile an hour brain. So putting yourself out there as an expert, once a week is a really good practice to get into. Because then there's no reason that that can't be say in my example, a podcast that lives on your website, and also various other marketing channels, it can be broken down into a series of pull quotes for your social media, you can then promote your podcast or your blog or your video on social media and redirect people back to where it originally lives.

Meredith Paige 11:06

There's 100 different ways you can spin off content from that in a really easy way. Or if you've got a tech savvy person on your team, or virtual assistant you use to help you with this sort of stuff is brilliant. So if you're creating that core piece of content that establishes an expert, and gives away value that's free and like value, it's free and actionable. Or even just give someone a little bit of peace of mind. It can then be repurposed in half a dozen ways in really quick and easy as a really quick and easy solution to creating content that actually mean something not just posting for the sake of posting, which I know none of us really like doing.

Meredith Paige 11:46

So that's how you convey once a week now convert this is actually asking for a sale. And I felt like people in a COVID context are probably getting better at this simply because they have to. But typically speaking, a lot of people either do one of two things, they'll sit all in one of these buckets and not evenly spread themselves thin. So some people live all in the in the Convert bucket where it's constantly by these by these this is on sale, this is on specialist is discounted. But without the connection, which are going to last and without the conveyance of expertise. No one's really got any incentive to buy from you. Because it's like, well, why. Similarly, some of the people leave all in the convey bucket where it's like they constantly giving away information, but never actually asked for anything. Or the Connect bucket. Which is pretty much being the warm, fuzzy Person person that is just there for all the fields. Which is in what we set up business accounts for not always in business emails for for sorts, whole in solely, like warm fuzzies. They're important, but there shouldn't be everything.

Meredith Paige 12:45

With a convert post, you want to be doing this. Again, I try to do this once a week if I am in fact looking to generate business right now. If not, I'll just stay in the connected convey. And that's all I'll take along. But if you're looking to actually keep business taking over, if you're in a business model where you need to be constantly generating sales on a regular weekly daily basis, then at least week, you want to be asking for a sale, showcasing a product introducing your service. And there's a couple angles you can hit this set. So you don't feel like you're constantly saying this is on sale by this every week you can you address it from an angle of how can they work with you? What's the next step? If they're interested right now? what's included in your products or services? Is there a really good entry level product or service that they should know about? What are the benefits, what will they stand to gain on the other side of buying that product or service. This is a really good one two, who is the best person to buy from you. Because this then puts the person listening, watching or reading at the forefront of the conversation. Like if you're this person experiencing this problem, I have just the thing for you. And 'I'd love for you to get started working with me'. Or 'I have just this product for this particular element'. Or if you're trying to achieve this particular goal.

Meredith Paige 13:55

For me, I always try to sort of come from the angle 'if you're a small business owner in a small town wearing too many hats, and you need a bit of help with XYZ level of marketing, here's a great way you can get started/ get in touch and we'll get the ball rolling'. So and again, if that helps it really resonate with the people who are reading, watching or listening. They can suddenly sit there and go oh, that is me I am struggling with that or that is something I'm experiencing right now. So rather than it being here's my stuff, here's what I can do Me, me, me, me, me (which is important in moderation), it's important to talk about your products and services in the context of the person whom they've meant for.

Meredith Paige 14:30

So if you're trying to think of ways to talk about a conversion, email, post, whatever, think about framing it in that context. And that way, it's more about you promoting something you want to do to help rather than feeling like you're promoting yourself which sometimes people can shy away from.

Meredith Paige 14:45

Now the big bucket that I normally open with and which I feel like you should always do if you're looking at as a week map, I would always start with a connection. Because for me, I would start with connecting with my audience (listeners/readers etc). I would layer on top that my expertise conveyance of what I know and how I know it and how I can best how I best work. And then it converted the end. So that would particularly back be on Friday where like Monday would have made establish a connection and showing them that I understand who they are. On a Wednesday, which I'm recording this right now on my three year olds asleep in the back of the car, I'm conveying my expertise. And then on Friday, I might actually sort of say, 'here's what I've got, if you want to start working with me', so it's all layered on top of the good stuff.

Meredith Paige 15:29

I want to end with connection. Because right now I feel that connection is more important than ever was both in business and just people to people, because we need to remember that we're not doing business with pixels, we're doing business with people. And I hope you can kind of read between the lines here and see the broader application of what I'm about to kind of cover right now. I want to connect with people, you first need to have a really good understanding of who you are. The connection actually starts with bravery. It starts with being honest first with yourself in terms of who do you want to be in the broader world, talking loosely in business, but again, we could be talking more broadly right now. Who do you want to be in the world? And what do you stand for? And how do you want to best present yourself, when you post email record each day? Who do you want to be every day until you run out of days.

Meredith Paige 16:18

And then once you've just once you've established who you are, and what you stand for, it's then about being brave enough to do that publicly, as a business as a business operator. And then subsequently, as a person, it's being able to stand there and go, this is who I am. This is what's important to me. And the bravery comes into it, because that will repel some people and attract others. But something that I've always said for a very long time about marketing, which now does release into a broader application is it's better to get 10 resounding yeses in 100 minutes because no one ever took action of a mitt. So it's in your best interest to find your people. Let your people know that your values and beliefs align. And then stick to that as you continue to communicate with your customers and the broader community in which you operate. At the start of all this, you went into business, probably because you stood for something, whether it was you stood for just autonomy, working for yourself, wanting to make better margins, wanting to make better money week to week because you want to take out the middleman of the employer, maybe you're better just better suited to working for yourself. I've worked for some fantastic people, but I'm just better suited to working for myself. It just suits my brain, it suits my lifestyle requirements. But I've worked for some fantastic companies over the years. Or you might be really passionate about your product or your service or the way you do business. I'm really passionate about empowering small businesses to be the drivers have their marketing and not held ransom to people and products and services that don't have their best interests at heart, I want to put you in the driver's seat when it comes to marketing your business.

Meredith Paige 17:52

That's why I'm really passionate about and it's important that you once you find that passion or that reason or your values or what you stand for, it's really important you keep beating that drum. And again, this makes this has probably as broader application right now I'm just really fortunate though it also makes us really good marketing 101 stuff, in my opinion. So let's recap throughout the week. If you have your sort of nominated channels, my go twos are email, Facebook, Instagram, and now audio. If you're going to be creating one, whatever it looks like that conveys your expertise, asks for a sale and converts them into customers. But most importantly connects, you're going to be on the right track when it comes to consistently marking your business in a way that's efficient, where you don't feel like you're fluffing around and spending hours on it when you've got a bajillion one things that need doing right now.

Meredith Paige 18:40

So you can better keep your marketing ticking along consistently if you're concentrating on these three buckets: Connect, Convey and Convert. But most importantly, connect, find your people speak to their needs and remind them that they're not alone. Whatever that looks like in your corner of the world right now. So my small business owner who's probably sleep deprived and running on empty and juggling, homeschooling and looking after your kids whilst also trying to run a business and maintain the mental well being and physical well being of your staff and your customers. Stay well. Stay safe and most importantly stay true to yourself because if you're not true to yourself, what does that leave in its place? Big Love to You guys until next time