Ask yourself the right questions
Starting out is not always easy. And although most novice entrepreneurs know WHAT their product or service is and HOW they are intending to sell it, the WHY usually gets neglected. Ironically, it is a clear understanding of your WHY what will make you stand out and keep you going.
Knowing the answers to the following questions makes you a better entrepreneur and has a tremendous impact on everything that you do to make your startup a success.
- What is it specifically that makes you want to sell your product or service?
- What is your motivation behind your business?
- What is your passion behind sharing your talents with the world?
- How different is what you are offering from everybody else, and especially those who claim to be selling the same or similar product or service?
Take the time to answer these questions honestly. It will be well worth your effort.
Three words that can define your marketing strategy
In the early stages of building your business you may find yourself to be working more on your business than for your business. It is not unusual that it takes work to get work at the beginning.
You can look at Marketing as everything that you do to get work – whether it’s your branding, your website, your social media platforms and general online presence, your print literature including your business cards and even the way you present yourself, what you wear and the things you say when attending networking events or meeting potential clients.
More often than not, starting-out entrepreneurs get stuck in trying to find new customers, making more sales and ultimately making their business a success. They do all the above without taking the time to think about the Holy Trinity of WHAT, HOW and WHY.
Be clear about what you want & do it!
As entrepreneurs we should always start with the WHY. When it comes to marketing our businesses however, the reasons why we take all the actions is inevitably defined by why we want to make our business a success. Isn’t this a good enough reason to take the time to do this important work before setting out to make things happen? Therefore, if you haven’t already, go back and answer the above questions.
Many entrepreneurs get stuck with the WHAT and HOW when thinking about marketing their business. Answering these questions, will help you to build a solid strategy:
- Knowing what you know about marketing now, what do you commit yourself to be doing? Be specific.
- When will you do these things? Is it a one-off action or will you do it regularly?
- What do you need to learn to make it happen?
- Who do you need to involve to make it happen?
- How will you know that you are doing things right?
- What will you do if things don’t go according to plan?
- What can you do to improve on what’s already working?
Taking the time to understand your WHY and looking at Marketing as a business within your startup that needs to be strategically defined and consistently applied, will give you a great head-start to making your startup a success – whatever that means for you.
Sonja Kirschner is the founder of APower 3 – Coaching, Training & Mind Freedom®. Entrepreneurial by nature, and having set up her first business in her twenties, Sonja is driven by bringing the best out of people in business. As a long-standing key player in the growth of many businesses through marketing, business development and multilingual communication, Sonja has successfully coached & mentored a great diversity of starting-out and established entrepreneurs. Sonja is a guest blogger for Corivatia.
APower 3 – Coaching, Training & Mind Freedom®
