Do You Have The Right Marketing Mindset?

What business are you in?

When I ask small business owners this question, I always get the same answer.

If I’m asking a plumber about their business, they’ll say “I started my own plumbing company because I’m good at plumbing.” A chef will say they started their restaurant because they’re good at cooking and food preparation. While technically they are experts in their craft, they are really marketers; marketers of the business they own or started. This is a mindset that most small business owners are challenged with. Thinking about creating awareness for their technical expertise is the marketing mindset that goes along with small business ownership.

A marketing mindset – it starts with you – the small business owner.

It’s not about your business . . . it’s not about the marketplace . . . and it’s not about your customers or clients.

The small business owners I talk to say “It’s so tough out there today.” That’s actually AWESOME news!

Tough times are actually the best time to reach out to your customers. That takes a disciplined mindset.

Your competitors are probably cutting their marketing as an “expense” – you can be leaps and bounds ahead of them by continuing with consistent marketing. Your competitors don’t have the proper mindset. You do.

Are tough market conditions and an economic downturn the right time to be cutting your marketing budget? Not if you want your business to thrive.

Marketing is not a department. Marketing is a verb. Marketing is ACTION and ACTION leads to profits.

Nike may say “Just do it”, but “just doing it” is more than casual activity or just winging it. Energy, enthusiasm, and passion have to be present. Energy, enthusiasm, and passion come from your mindset.

The marketing mindset is based on the idea that each person and every activity in your business should be focused on the following question: How am I building awareness with my prospects and clients through our marketing? Every day that you start working – whether you are in an office, out in the field, traveling on business, or visiting customers and prospects – you should focus on this question. If you have employees in your business, you should develop systems, checkpoints, and accountability so that they also think about this question.

If you would like to make several trips to the bank to make daily deposits, then everyone in your business must think like a marketer in everything they do. The mindset starts with you. Running a small business is more than making products or delivering services. You’ve probably heard the saying “Nothing happens until something gets sold.” But you can’t sell a product or service no one knows about. Think like a marketer, all the time, and this will ensure that never happens.

Think about your marketing in the same way you think about paying your bills. You pay them routinely every month without giving them much thought. Your marketing can be compared to your breathing. You can’t live very long on just a single breath. It takes many breaths, one right after the other. Marketing works the same way. You won’t attract new customers or clients with one marketing initiative. You keep breathing to stay alive. You continue marketing to make more trips to the bank.

If you are making a list of the top three things that would make your business a success today, marketing should be at the top of the list. Pure and simple, if people don’t know about you, your products, or your services, they can’t buy from you.

Want to improve your marketing mindset? The first step would be to sign up for the Small Biz Marketing Mastermind

One way to develop more of a marketing mindset is to look around you. Which signs or billboards catch your eye as you’re driving around town? Which radio commercials stick in your mind? Which mail pieces do you throw away and which do you keep?

Pay attention to features, headlines, benefits, and calls to action. Which ones work and which ones don’t? Doing so will not only become a habit for you after a while, but it will also be a continual contributor to your ongoing marketing mindset.

If you want to be a successful business owner you need to have a marketing mindset. This means “think marketing all of the time.”

Keeping your eyes and mind open will help you develop a marketing mindset. Putting them into action will make them a habit and habit becomes a mindset.