Running a business or practice can be a daily challenge. Everyone else seemingly does it so easily, so why does it sometimes seem like so much hard work? Business owners don’t always have someone they can turn to for answers to daily frustrations, which is why more and more are looking to find a business coach. The most common issues revolve around people, money and time. In particular, the lack of it. This question and answer series of articles provides scenarios for practice and business owners to find answers to those frustrating situations.
Q: Each year we spend significant money on advertising (Yellow Pages etc), but I don’t know how effective it is. I feel I’m not getting commensurate results. Am I spending it in the right area and how can I get better results?
First measure your results. Do you know where your business is coming from? Is your marketing and advertising targeted towards your most likely or ideal customer? Do you know who your ideal customer is? If not, start by creating a composite picture of your best customers. What are their likes and dislikes about dealing with businesses like yours? What are they looking for in terms of service? What are they most likely to see, hear or read? In other words, where do you need to advertise? Once you know more about them, put yourself in their shoes and look at your advertising from their perspective. Is you existing marketing a fit? If your marketing is random, you are almost certainly having a scattergun approach and the customers who find out about you do more by good luck than design.
Once you know your target market you need to look at both the channel and the message. The right channel and the wrong message or the right message and the wrong channel can be a costly exercise.
Watch for Part Five…coming next week!
Until next time…
P.S. Learn more about working ON your business–talk to the coach! Click here to connect with me!