I read and watch a LOT of news. I also keep an eye on Twitter throughout the day. My daily news consumption is either a lot or not enough depending on where you fall in the spectrum. One thing that I really appreciate on Twitter is how generous reporters are with other news outlets. These days there is MORE than enough news to go around. From the White House to #MeToo to immigration, a lot of reporters are covering a lot of details and not everyone can cover everything.
I love when I see Maggie Haberman tweet out an article from Politico or the Washington Post. Or when David Fahrenthold tweets out an article from a Florida paper about drama at Mar-a-Lago. There’s more than enough news to go around and making sure that their followers and readers catch a story that they didn’t have time to write is thoughtful to the bigger picture.
So what does this have to do with small business marketing?
When I work with a client I always want to make sure that they are getting access to the best of what they need. Last week I received a “no thank you” email from a potential client because they wanted someone to help specifically with a service I don’t offer. And that was great, we weren’t the right fit to work together. But they are going to find someone who is. I often tell clients we’ll figure out what You can do, what I can do and what we need to outsource to someone cheaper, smarter and more efficient than either of us to do.
If you continue to feel like you’re losing business to someone else, step back and look at what they are doing differently. Maybe you need to niche down further in your business. Maybe you need to have better follow up systems in place (honestly, this is it for a lot of people). Maybe if you trust your gut you know that wasn’t going to be the right fit client anyway and you’re honestly better off than having to fire them or they fire you in 6 months.
As a small business owner, encourage and support other small business owners. Encourage them and share their knowledge with your network. Talk with them and learn more about their niche and expertise. You may find that something you LOVE doing is their least favorite part of the job, or vice versa.
Stop believing that scarcity is a thing in your business. There is more than enough business to go around.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking to my good friend Jen McFarland at Foster Growth. She’s my go to gal when I have tech questions. So, as GDRP has become THE hot topic for small business owners in the last couple of weeks, I asked Jen to share her recommendations. For most of my clients we’ve talked about this already and made changes as needed. My recommendation – read Jen’s blog post and start to implement the changes with your web developer and with your newsletter signup forms in the coming weeks and months to be ahead of the game.
When you’re starting a business it’s hard to figure out what all you SHOULD do, versus what you want to do, need to do and have to do. When I am working with a company as they are about to launch a business I recommend three things when it comes to a newsletter.