2022 in Review: Marketing and Leadership

As we enter the final month of 2022, let’s review the content we have shared with you this year. Each month we generally focus on a particular topic related to one of the four business pillars driving the Academy i.e. Leadership, Marketing and Sales, Business Fulfillment, and Finance and Administration.

We began the year in January with a series on getting marketing results and followed this in February with a series on the importance of your “WHY.”

The following is a summary of each topic. Click on the links to read the articles or watch the videos on each post.

Boost Your Marketing Results

Marketing is an essential component of success for any small business. Without effective marketing, a company will fail to attract customers and generate sales. Therefore, it’s critical that entrepreneurs thoroughly understand how to employ effective marketing tactics to reach their target audience and promote their services or products.

Small businesses have various marketing options, from traditional print media and direct mail to digital means like webinars, email campaigns, and social media advertising.

By researching each option to determine which channels are most effective for their particular industry, small businesses can create a comprehensive marketing plan that maximizes the return on investment. Furthermore, staying attuned to changing market trends can help entrepreneurs stay ahead of the competition by identifying new growth opportunities.

In the series on getting rapid marketing results, we focused on a simple 5-step model to implement quarterly.

The steps in the process are:

• Define the foundation: this revolves around your core business values, your target market, your products and services, and your unique value proposition.
• Pinpoint your top goal to focus on for best success.
• Choose the marketing strategy to focus on for the next quarter.
• Develop your action plan, and
• Communicate with your team.

This marketing model has proven to be an effective way to quickly and effectively increase the success of a business. Businesses that have adopted this strategy have seen an increase in revenue, new customers, and higher customer retention rates.

It is a user-friendly platform that can be used by any business regardless of size, type, or industry. Furthermore, the results are measurable and can inform future marketing strategies.

What Drives You and Keeps You Going When Times are Tough?

Your ‘why’ is the reason you are doing something – what truly drives you to reach a goal—understanding your ‘why’ can give you greater insight into yourself and motivate you to achieve your ambitions.

Your big ‘why’ should go beyond just what gets rewarded or what others may expect of you. Instead, it should be about finding your purpose and pursuing something greater than yourself.

When making decisions, consider whether it aligns with your purpose; if it doesn’t, then the choice may not be right for you, even if everyone else seems to think so.

By understanding your own motivations, values, and talents, you can better discover where your true passions lie and make progress toward reaching them. If you have this clearly defined, you can make intentional choices in your life and business.

Connecting with your why gives you an empowering force that allows you to be “free” and embrace the real passions that you have in life.

Your ‘Why’ and Your Business

Why are you self-employed? How come you started your own business instead of working for someone else or other options available to you?

By owning and running a business, you face obstacles and pressures that your employees and even your family do not understand. It is your ‘why’ that motivates you and keeps you going.

As the entrepreneur behind the business, it stands to reason that your character, values, passions, and motivations flow through your company. This needs to be communicated through:

• A vision statement: ‘a business document that states the current and future objectives of an organization’,
• A mission statement that outlines how you will accomplish your vision, and
• A documented list of your core values that ‘guide all of a company’s actions’.

Have you ever identified your core values? The core values of your business stem from your personal core values.

They are important because they communicate your principles to customers, employees, and other stakeholders. They also outline a code of conduct for employees and contractors to abide by in representing your business.

Click here for a process to identify your personal core values and develop the values for your business.

The importance of understanding why we do something is essential to our growth and progress. Without the “why,” it can be challenging to understand our motivations and passions. When we can connect with our purpose, it can inspire us to take meaningful action that can benefit ourselves and others. Taking time out for self-reflection is a valuable part of discovering our genuine reasons for doing something.

Other Posts from 2022 Quarter 1

In March, we posted a series of general articles that contain important information and should not be ignored:

Many small business owners do not understand the effects of discounting. So, we looked at the topic of discounting prices and, in particular, analyzed the extra volume you have to sell to break even when you discount your price, as well as the effects on volume when you increase your margins.

Our next article was on a solopreneurs guide to business systems. Many solopreneurs tend to fly by the seat of their pants, and adopting systems can increase their opportunities for success.

We then wrote about modern versus old-school methods of sales. In the modern world, customers are looking for solutions.

Our last article for the quarter was on the importance of having a business plan. Once again, this is a tool that many self-employed business owners ignore. However, a business plan is of great value for even the smallest businesses.

See you next week when we review the next quarter’s updates.

This article is part of our series reveiwing 2022 articles. Other articles in this series include:
2022 in Review: Mindset, Processes, Selling Skills and Growing your Business
Holiday Survival Tips for Self-Employed Small Business Owners
Reviewing 2022: Project Management, Reducing Paper and Profitable Pricing