Try Something New with Your Marketing
If you’re busy, marketing your small business can feel a lot like that nagging to-do list item that never goes away.
Or it’s just something that’s not even on your to-do list because… where do you even start?
Social media is our default. We post a few times a week (or a month, if we’re being honest) and hope that we make a bit of an impression. We get a few likes, a handful of spam comments asking for #collabs, and then we’re drowned out in the sea of the never-ending News Feed.
We fall into predictable rhythms that train our followers how to react to our business.
We trade in new-and-improved for quick-and-good-enough.
We don’t mean to, but we send subliminal messages that our business is boring and formulaic. We lack innovation.
This is why I think it’s imperative that we break out of the habit of doing what’s worked in the past for something entirely different. How have I arrived at that conclusion? Easy:
The social media algorithm—and marketing in general—is always changing.
We get rewarded for trying all the new features of your favourite social media platform. We get better engagement when we do something unexpected and noteworthy.
We catch the attention of our audience once again by doing something worthy of it.
I get that it’s easy to become too busy with actually running your business to think about promoting it. But it’s something we can’t ever fail to do.
When you feel the busiest: that is when you should be promoting your business the most. Because if you’re only actively promoting your business when business is slow, you’re already at a disadvantage. These things are cyclical and they take time. There is little work you can gain overnight from a single social media post. Therefore, anticipate the cycle and gradual thought-infiltration by trying out new things with your marketing.
Alright Aidan: you’ve convinced me to try something new. But…
What does something new look like?
It could be any of the following:
Start a blog on your industry and share insights your clients would benefit from
Use one of the other social media features you haven’t yet explored (Reels, TikTok, polls, recommendations)
Take video more seriously across literally every platform
Create long-form content (written or video) which is something very few people are doing
Host a virtual training or class
Commit to posting more often online
Interact with more of your followers and people you follow
Launch a new product or service—even if it might fail
Share more of your life outside of work
Promote other businesses you partner with, or would like to, or are businesses run by your friends
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what you try; just try something new.
Doing something unexpected can be a (positive) shock to the system of your followers, much like making snow angels after the hot tub.
Recapture your followers’ interest by being bold enough to try out that idea that’s been floating around your head for far too long.
