Joel Orr: The Joy of Marketing

Your marketing is killing your business.

Let me rephrase: Unless your marketing is bringing you more business than you can handle, it’s pulling you down the drain. There is no middle ground in marketing.

So which is it? If you are like 90+% of authors and solopreneurs, you don’t have all the clients you want, all the business you need. And it’s probably because you treat marketing like cleaning the toilet: You know it needs to be done; you know it’s your responsibility; but since you haven’t learned to enjoy it, you put it off until things are well nigh intolerable.

Just to clarify: Marketing, in my view, is about identifying your customer, satisfying your customer and keeping your customer. Selling is a narrower concept; so is branding. To be a good marketer, you have to know who your customer is; what it will take to satisfy them; and what it will take to keep them coming back to you for more. That is what your marketing plan should express.

Your marketing plan is the heart of your business plan. Of course your niche is important; your competition is significant; your infrastructure is critical to bringing it all together – but unless your marketing plan states clearly who your customer is, what they want, and how you will keep them, none of the other stuff matters.

Social media? Sure, but marketing first.

Business development? Yes, but only after you address those first three points: Identifying, satisfying and keeping your customer.

Marketing planning and execution are ongoing activities, not periodic acts like replacing the batteries in the smoke alarms. Your comprehension of your customer’s identity and their desires must be refined on a daily basis. If you can’t learn to love marketing, you should get a job – or find people who love marketing and have them do it on your behalf.

Think of it like this: You love the outcomes of successful marketing; you enjoy knowing exactly who and where the hungry crowd is, and precisely what they’re hungry for. You love delivering it to them. Planning and doing the marketing are prerequisites. You may enjoy cooking, but unless you shop for ingredients, there won’t be a meal.

So begin to challenge yourself by examining the marketing process and identifying the parts you don’t like to do. What can you do about them? Can you outsource them? Can you learn to love them?

Make this a top priority. It’s the key to a successful business!