TL;DR

The biggest keys to successful marketing for One-Person Businesses are:

• Eliminating waste and dialing back on lower performing efforts
• Accelerating programs that are gaining traction while adding new ones to properly test
• Measuring and refining your programs for the best results

Full Text

[Marketing Musings]

by Hubert Kang

At some point, we’ve all been asked to describe ourselves in just a few words.

It’s not an easy task and I won’t attempt it here, but I will share one word that would likely make my personal list:

Marketer.

For over 25 years, I've worked both as a Marketer in Corporate America, and as a Marketing Consultant for Clients. With regards to the former, it was primarily about owning a defined role and collaborating as a specialist for shared goals and objectives.

With the latter, my role was focused on guiding business owners on how to navigate today's complex world of Marketing options. That's what I'd like to focus on in this article. In a world where everything from stapled bandit signs on telephone poles, to the most sophisticated AI technology tools are at your disposal – it's often hard to find a starting point. Decisions are often second guessed, projects start and stop, and results rarely happen as you envision them.

Mindset is critical. I always remind Clients that Marketing is an investment, not an expense. Financial returns are expected with investments and in this case, Marketing is no different from any other investment you as a business owner would (or should) make. One issue that many smaller businesses fall into is that they want “too much, too fast” when it comes to their Marketing efforts. The truth is, we want all our investments to yield immediate returns, but it rarely works that way. Do any of these sound familiar?

• I want to triple my revenue in 6 months
• I want to work with Fortune 100 clients immediately
• I want to offer these 5 services now because my current clients have asked about them

There is nothing wrong with any of these scenarios, but timing is critical. Burn rate, expertise, bandwidth and money all play a role. It’s times like these when you have to remind yourself about what is within your control and what is beyond your reach.

Marketing is one of the popular disciplines in business because unlike other departments, there is some ambiguity and interpretation involved. In Accounting and Finance, this is less the case. Numbers are harder to debate. When your Marketing efforts start to drift, and it becomes harder and harder to stick to a plan, it helps to borrow from a proven framework to guide you.

Peachtree Labs - Power Level Marketing Framework

The Power Level (PL) Marketing Framework is an exercise that small businesses who have experienced varying degrees of Marketing success (and failure), can utilize to add clarity to day to day efforts.

We’ve had the opportunity to advise hundreds of Clients over the years, and most would attest that this framework is powerful because of its simplicity and familiarity, and measurability. Let’s start with simplicity.

Simplicity
Before any input, strategy, or brainstorming have taken place, the PL Marketing Framework looks like this:

Symbols are powerful. They are simple, but authoritative. They create a “yes - no” system of rules to follow and leave very little room for something to be misunderstood. The use of simple mathematical symbols in a Marketing plan is a simple way to organize the ideas and tactics that will ultimately provide the return on the investment you’ve already made.

What do we need to add to our current Marketing plan that we aren’t doing now? (There might be elements that have held you back here like money and knowledge. When filling this box in, stick to the need to have vs. the nice to have ideas.)

What do we need to subtract from our current Marketing plan? (often times, this part gets uncomfortable, after all, there may be vendors, programs, passion or legacy projects, and even personnel that fall into this area – as a business owner be honest and transparent about these)

What do we need to increase in order to improve our current Marketing results? (Have you maxed out or hit the ceiling on certain programs and how certain are you of this? Is a lack of talent or resources keeping some initiatives from operating at full capacity?)

What do we need to decrease in order to improve our current Marketing results? (Are you continuing to invest in programs that are providing diminishing returns? How are you measuring and forecasting performance with regards to these tactics?)

See the problem, solve the problem. Spot the gaps, fill the gaps. Don't criticize less performing efforts, rather reward the ability to identify inefficiency and change course.

Look around you. Switches and Dials enable us to create environments that meet us where we are. Light switches brighten the room at night. Dialing the thermometer left cools us during the day.

The Power and Levels that run your Marketing programs are up to you. Chances are good that you aren’t at your optimum level, but improvement starts with a full understanding of where you are now.

In our 1:1 Coaching Service we help business owners take control of their Marketing and recommend the best balance of switches and dials to help you get the most out of your investment.

Familiarity
I mentioned earlier that simplicity is a core part of our framework. Familiarity is the second piece.

A few simple words strung together will likely remind you of many brainstorming sessions you’ve had with Marketing, and those words are “Can I, should I?” (Hint: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should).

Yes, Marketing is preferred in some circles because of its subjective nature (see a few paragraphs above), but for those familiar with the discipline, it certainly creates swirls of indecision amidst the spirited debate.

Ideation is fun. Keeping tabs on the shiniest objects that just hit the market is addicting. Innovation ensures that Marketing is constantly Marketing itself by bringing new tactics and tools for businesses to evaluate.

Nobody wants to get in the way of anyone’s fun, but the reality is making decisions is crucial. Straddling the fence doesn’t help anyone, including your customers.

Sample Goal: Increase online prospects by 20% in Q4 2023

Organizing projects and tactics in the PL Marketing framework is a good first step. And when doing so - keep in mind that “no ideas are bad ideas,” particularly as you are considering tactics that you may be adding. As your business grows and matures, some of those added tactics will move into other areas of the matrix.

In our OPB OS Online Course, we provide digital tools (PDF & Spreadsheets) that can steer you through this exercise, as well as document your Marketing efforts throughout the year. As you make decisions on tactics, along with weekly and monthly changes to your plan (based on performance), it will improve your investments over time. Furthermore, it will greatly inform you on which tactics are working best with the customers you prefer servicing.

The third step is getting serious about the numbers behind it all, and understanding how all of this is impacting your Sales efforts.

Measurability

Earlier in the article, I mentioned how you have to view Marketing as an Investment and not an Expense. The 2 best ways to do that are:

• Be very clear on what kind of financial return you need from your efforts for profitability
  Measure everything associated with the Marketing tactics you’ve chosen

Our online course goes into much greater detail about the pros and cons of general Marketing programs you’ll be using (Social Media, 1:1 Marketing, Guerilla Marketing, Paid Media). Those materials are a valuable resource to help guide you through different options of where to put your investments.

Measurability is easier for some tactics than others. Before you start any new initiatives and put them in the + box, make sure you’ve exhausted all avenues of how to best measure your results. Some will come with the technology available. Some from any vendors you may be working with. And some, will be born out of your own ingenuity and knowledge of your current costs and expenses.

When you think about measuring your Marketing ROI, think of soft returns and hard returns:

1. Soft returns - leads, subscribers, fans, followers, comments, downloads, etc.
2. Hard returns - purchase of a product or service from a customer that was directly supported by paid media

Paid Media is a fairly broad category that is not just Digital Media such as Facebook or Google. There are also Traditional Media tactics (e.g. Print Ads, Mailers, Terrestrial Broadcast) that may need to be factored in.

In sum, your total Marketing related expenses represent a bucket of dollars that need to be factored against the price your customers are paying. Your profit margin must meet the acceptable goals and terms you’ve set in order for you to continue.

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A simple illustration of this would be:

Product Price: $10.00
Product Cost: $5.00
Profit (before media costs): $5.00
Profit Margin (before media costs): 50%

If you spend $5.00 in paid media to get $10.00 in revenue, that seems good on the surface. It is a 2x ROAS (return on advertising spend). But if the profit margin (after product costs) is $5.00 and you spent $5.00 in media costs, you actually earn zero profit. So in this example, you need a better than 2x ROAS to be profitable.

And profitability is the key.
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One-Person Businesses (OPBs) own the burden of truly assessing how Marketing and Financial return work together. It’s less the case in larger entities with greater resources, but with OPBs these two practices must be in lock step.

Think of Simplicity, Familiarity, and Measurability as guiding principles to produce your best Marketing results.

We look forward to serving you and your business through our Online Courses or in our 1:1 Coaching Program. Thanks for reading!

Hubert Kang
Founder, Peachtree Labs