The internet is littered with bloggers and experts, all claiming to have cracked the small business digital marketing code. In fact, we’ve even published our own digital marketing cheat sheet that claims to offer everything you need to know about how to market your small business. We’ve done our best at giving you all of the information you’ll need, but it’s by no means comprehensive or complete. We’ll be tweaking to and adding to our cheat sheet for years to come!
The chances are that you’ve probably already bookmarked some of these blogs, like our own, and you may even have taken out a subscription to software that promises to “shake up” your marketing, save you time and make you more money.
However, instead of spending months reading case studies, trailing new products and software and working with different digital marketing agencies, we have another idea: just do it.
We live in a world that’s overloaded with information. There are blogs, YouTube videos and three-month £99 e-courses for practically any and every digital marketing dilemma out there. Rather than getting lost in all of the noise and spending far too much time signing up to mailing lists and commenting on blogs, we recommend biting the bullet and experimenting.
If you’re looking to market your small business this year and don’t want to fall into the trap of wasting time and spending money that you don’t have, you need to read this.
You’re not going to make that many mistakes
In this fast-paced, everyone’s-an-expert world, we’re often pressured into executing the most efficient strategy for everything we do. But it’s the mistakes we make that help us grow as individuals. Even if you’re not planning on becoming a digital marketer yourself and only want to grow your brand, getting on with it and experimenting is the best way to learn.
Experimentation leads to new ideas
Digital marketing is ever-changing, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all model to success. Instead of following a tried and tested formula that’s been used by a digital marketing company, you should experiment and see what works for your business. Learning by doing helps you become a better marketer, and experimentation can lead to new ideas.
You’re probably wasting time
Type in small business marketing on Google, and you’ll be greeted with more than 100 million resources to look through. While some will undoubtedly provide you with value, most of them are rehashed concepts we’re all already well aware of. Stop wasting time reading countless blogs and start doing stuff. You probably shouldn’t finish this blog, either.
Digital marketing blogs are often misleading and commercialised
While we’re not saying that digital marketing blogs don’t provide value, many are created by software-as-a-service companies and overemphasise the importance of their software – leading inexperienced digital marketers to splash out on unless technology they don’t need and won’t use. After all, blogs are commercials. Nobody’s spending time writing articles and offering their advice if they’re getting nothing in return.
How did you learn how to market your business?
Did you have a go-to eBook that you used as a digital marketing bible, or did you just get stuck in and learn things on your own? Let us know in the comments section below.