Successful small business marketers think (and therefore act) differently than those who struggle with marketing.
Successful marketers believe they create their success and results. Struggling marketers believe that results happen to them.
To succeed in marketing to build and grow your business, you have to believe that you are the one who creates your results. That means you’re the one creating great success. Or, it means that you are the one creating mediocre success, or continuous struggle.
Struggling business owners tend to believe that they have little control over the results of their marketing. They tend to think that results are just something that happen because there are so many factors outside of their control. And because they choose to believe those outside factors are causing results to happen to them they end up blaming, complaining, denying, and justifying.
Instead of taking responsibility for what’s happening, struggling marketers tend to blame…
* They blame the economy.
* They blame changes in the market.
* They blame the competition.
* They blame their unsupported, unloving upbringing as a child.
* They blame everyone and everything except themselves.
Instead of taking responsibility for what’s happening, struggling marketers tend to complain…
* They complain about what’s wrong with the marketing tactics that don’t work for their business.
* They complain about the people who don’t respond or return their calls or emails in a timely manner.
* They complain about the weather and anything else that takes the focus off their dismal results.
Instead of taking responsibility for what happening, struggling marketers tend to deny…
* They deny that they haven’t spent any time to narrow down their ideal target market.
* They deny that they haven’t spent any time identifying and articulating their unique differentiator.
* They deny that not scheduling and spending any time working on their marketing was a choice and not because their schedule has been crazy.
Instead of taking responsibility for what’s happening, struggling marketers tend to justify…
* They justify wasting a day or two chasing a proposal opportunity that they know had a slim and none chance of succeeding on.
* They justify spending too much non-value added time responding to emails and voice mails that aren’t a priority.
* They justify blowing half a day alphabetizing and reorganizing their business card file or anything else that will keep them from having to do marketing.
There are a million reasons why things are not working out. But it’s always something else, not you that might be one of those reasons. It’s a “poor me, what else am I supposed to do” attitude.
Now maybe you don’t feel like these mindsets or ways of behaving apply to you and your business. After all, isn’t it possible that you struggle with marketing because you’re just not good at marketing?
Yes, there certainly is a case for the statement that you’re just not good at marketing. After all, it’s not what you’ve educated and trained yourself to do specifically. But, why do you think it is that you don’t get any better at marketing your services? And, how does that explain others that may less knowledge and experience than you that seem to be getting great results consistently?
Successful marketers believe that they create the exact level of their business success. They believe that marketing results are an exact reflection of their efforts.
And that’s why successful small business marketers don’t waste loads of time and energy playing the blame, complain, deny, and justify game. They understand that if something is not working, it is most likely because there is something that they don’t know yet.
Successful small business marketers think about their marketing constantly. They understand that marketing is the engine that gives their business life by generating a consistent supply of leads and opportunities.
Successful small business marketers also understand that marketing is not something you do once and then sit back to see what results happen. They are constantly focused on their target market and what problems, issues and challenges they can help them solve. They create compelling marketing messages and information to gain attention and establish credibility with that target market.
You chose your marketing mindset and how you respond to the level of your results and success. Any time you catch yourself blaming, denying, justifying or complaining, stop and instead look for where you can make adjustments in your approach.