Use This 3-Step Process to Decide How To Market Your Business

So as a marketer I hear questions like this all the time…

“How do I increase my visibility?”

It basically boils down to…

How do I get noticed? And how do I turn that attention into clients I like working with and money in my bank account?

The problem is, as the old saying goes…

There are a million ways to make a million bucks.

There are countless examples of businesses that have done very well using all sorts of different mediums, platforms, and styles.

So the answer is almost always…

“It depends”

It depends what stage you’re at in your business.

It depends what you’re good at and enjoy doing (and therefore will do consistently)

It depends where you already have momentum.

And while it’s impossible to give advice that’s going to work 100% perfectly with every situation…

Here’s a simple 3-step process you can use to find your best next step.

Step 1: Are you at Traction or Scale?

Sometimes people try to do scale activities too soon.

This is usually when I hear people asking questions like…

“How do I get visibility on my website? How do I do SEO?”

…when they have less than 5 clients and don’t yet have a clear idea of who they serve and how they serve them.

Visibility is not your problem at this stage.

The truth is…

When you’re getting Traction in your business, you don’t really WANT visibility.

Because it’ll just be wasted.

In the Traction stage, you’re “pre-brand”.

You don’t yet have a unique, proven presence.

You’re still learning the language of your market.

You don’t fully understand why clients choose to work with you over everyone else.

The most important activity in the Traction stage isn’t to seek fame.

It’s to be down in the weeds, obsessed with your customers and clients. Doing the things that won’t scale.

Do whatever you need to do to get them incredible results. Build and publish case studies showing how you did it.

And learn exactly how they talk and think about their problems, frustrations and desires.

Discover what their dream world looks like. And exactly how you fit into helping them get there. 

When you do this, a few things happen…

1. You know exactly who your ideal client or customer is, and exactly how you help them achieve their dream life
2. You have a clear, consistent, repeatable way to serve them
3. You know exactly how to communicate with them in a compelling way so that you stand out and they pay attention

And when you have all 3, that’s when you’re ready for Scale.

Because now you have the fundamentals in place to make a real impact (and the income). And it’s time to ratchet it up. 

So that when you do get widespread attention, you have the foundation ready to turn it into results.

(note: I’m just talking about the marketing side here — obviously you need the operational side in place to actually keep up with the demand)

Step 2: What do you enjoy?

Some businesses are incredibly successful and barely do video at all.

Others only do video and rarely even provide transcripts for their stuff.

There’s no fill-in-the-blank formula for this.

There’s just one principle that matters:

Consistency.

Whatever you do, you must continue to show up.

So if you HATE video…

Either figure out a way to make it fun so that you’ll produce videos consistently…

Or admit that it’s just not for you right now. And stick with another method you actually enjoy.

Because what matters is that you do the thing you’ll actually do. Not the one gurus say you should do.

1,000 “good enough” swings is way more likely to produce more home runs than waiting to take 10 “perfect” swings.

So show up consistently in the format that works best for you.

Step 3: What messages resonate with your market?

Copy is always important. But I’d argue it’s particularly important in the Traction stage.

Because once you’ve done the hard work of developing a clear brand message and you know how to position your product or service in the market…

THEN things like tech and automation sequences have a greater relative importance. Because there’s going to be less overall variation in your messaging. 

Once you’re at Scale, you generally know what works. And you keep using the same 70-80% of your core messaging.

The Traction stage is where you’re doing the big, high level testing to see what resonates in terms of copy and positioning.

What are the most powerful emotions driving your market?

What words resonate with them? Which repel them?

What does your market LOVE? What do they HATE?

What makes you different that’s meaningful to your clients?

When you take the time to go through these steps, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how you should market yourself.

Because your approach will be based on which stage you’re at, what you enjoy doing, and your deep understanding of your market.