Speaking as an entrepreneur whose primary service provides video marketing tools for small businesses, I feel it’s only natural to write this blog on the topic of marketing.
I have been in business for myself all my working life. As a filmmaker I guess I 
have been a technician first then a businessman. Indeed I started Hax Media because I felt there was a market demand for video for businesses.
However, making films for business is one thing, but what is really required is a true understanding of the basic principles of business itself.
All businesses have the same basic needs regardless of whether they sell a service or product. One of these is lead generation.
Leads generate sales, sales provide cash flow and cash flow is the lifeblood of any business – and as the term suggests the flow of money is as fundamental as the blood that courses through our human veins! It sounds obvious but cash flow is THE most common struggle in small businesses and start-ups.
Fundamental stuff I bet you’re thinking and you are probably questioning the true content of this blog. It’s coming it’s coming!
Cash coming into the business has to come from sales. Sales arise from customer lead generation and conversion and this in turn is the result of a business marketing strategy – in simple terms communicating the benefits of your product or service to as many target buyers, as cost effectively as possible.
Failing or struggling businesses are suffering because of the lack of lead generation. That’s a fact. In a recent interview I filmed with a marketing professional with over thirty years experience, he had observed that successful businesses devote between 18% and 22% of their turnover to fund their marketing activity. He went on to say that he had also observed that these companies understood the importance of marketing and were not shy of marketing or its importance – and in fact leaned into the challenge!
Every business, including my own, needs to have a proper marketing strategy in place. As business owners we have to understand the importance of adequate and effective marketing. Yet a recent discussion with my bank manager revealed that there are a huge proportion of business owners who fail to attribute adequate funds to their marketing budget and as a result do not plan and execute effectively. He is of the firm belief that this is the principal reason why all sizes of business fail.
Small business owners quite simply need to understand that generating the necessary pipeline of sales leads comes as a direct result of implementing the right marketing strategy.
In today’s digital world social media has become a highly cost effective and responsive platform from which to build that strategy. Business owners need to have a clear understanding of where their customers are spending time online so that their strategies can deliver deliberate, targeted marketing messages with the appropriate call to action to reach them.
In a recent interview I filmed with digital marketing professional David Shaw, he observed that in his experience the fundamental reason why businesses fail or cease to grow adequately is because the way in which they market their business is fundamentally flawed!
Here are five considerations for building a successful marketing strategy;
1. Know who your actual customers are: Go back over the past two years and collect as much information about them as possible. Two years worth and you’ll see trends and will be able to build a typical profile of their make-up and behaviour.
2. Ask yourself what problem are they trying to solve when seeking out products and services like yours?
3. Do you offer solutions to these problems through your website and in your supporting marketing communications materials?
4. How easy is it for your new customers to come and do business with you?
5. Finally and this is really important! Do you clearly communicate to potential new customers why you are the best at solving their problem?
I am Hax, and I specialise in helping motivated business owners generate business leads using film to tell their stories and reach their customers.