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Merge Your Circles – 03/01/2017

When embarking on promoting your business, how much preparation do you do? Do you sit down and plan it all meticulously out or do you throw bits here and there and hope that something works? No one will disagree with you when you say planning is boring…..it so is. Not even tea and cake can make it exciting but it is important and in the long run, will save you a lot of time, promise!

When looking at your marketing, look at what it is that you do first. It only takes a quick Google search to know that you should have at least 9 different forms of marketing in place, all happening at the same time, 12 is even better. That may sound daunting but before you panic, stop and have a think about it. If you have a website, that is 1. Do you have leaflets up in corresponding places? That is 2. Do you go to a networking group? That is 3. All of these things add up – it doesn’t mean you should have a paid advert here and a costly subscription there, a lot of these things you can do yourself for free or at very low cost! Hurrah I hear you say!

Some refer to them as pillars, I personally prefer to see them as circles. I look at all of the forms of marketing I do and think that each form is circle with X number of people in. Those people in that circle, may only know of me from that method and that’s OK, however wouldn’t it be great if they knew me from some other way too? What if they collected my brochures and used them but then followed me on social media too? What if they came to my networking nights but then saw me at shows too? The more places you are, the more the circles begin to merge.

If you only use a couple of forms of marketing then you only have 2 circles that may or may not overlap……the chances of people joining those circles are low. If you have 10 circles and they begin to see a pattern and jump around within the circles, the more they emerge. Think of it like having 10 Hula Hoop crisps on a small plate, some touch each other and some over lap. If there are only 2, the chances of them touching are slim. Therefore they don’t make such an impression.

Enough of the crisps, although I now have a hankering for some Hula Hoops…….

It doesn‘t just have to be about the promotion you do for your business. What about bits that you can personally do inside of your business or what other people can do for you? Your customers are a huge player in your marketing plan, no better form of advertising can come than from a customer telling a friend about you. A customer recommendation is worth a million clicks on Facebook and is more likely to land you a job than them too! Why not encourage your customers to talk about you? Imagine them again as individual circles……if you have 10 customers, you’ve got the pile of 10 hula hoops again, they touch, overlap and talk to people. Imagine 100 hula hoops, it;s impossible for them not to overlap and stack up. This is the same with your customers…..they will tell friends, friends who have already heard about you from another friend, combine that with your own marketing where they’ve liked you on social media, have joined your newsletter and have now seen you at a show and boom, you’re irresistible to them! A new lead from your circles merging.

So don‘t be daunted by your marketing plans, instead merge your circles and see how much time & effort you can save yourself!