Introduction: 0:05

Welcome to the Small Business Marketing Huddle. Our show is all about taking action. We equip you with the marketing knowledge and confidence you need to make real progress. So let's huddle up and listen in to the latest episode with your host, Lily Richmond.

Lily Richmond: 0:30

Hey, this is Lily. Thanks for being here today and welcome to episode one of the Small Business Marketing Huddle podcast. I am so glad that you have found it. Now, if it is your first time here, don't forget to subscribe, because today, like in every episode, I am going to cover a marketing topic that I really think that you have got to learn if you want to master your marketing. Today's episode is a short one. I am going to share a little bit about the podcast, what it is about, a bit about me and what you will get out of it by tuning in, and, if you stick around to the end, I will share a tip on how you can beat your competitors with a really, really simple messaging hack.

Lily Richmond: 1:15

So let me tell you a little bit about the podcast. I started it because I know that marketing can be really overwhelming, right when you're a small business owner, I get it. You're constantly having to pivot from being the CEO to the head of finance or, of course, even the head of marketing. It just doesn't stop, and so I've created this podcast to specifically cut through that noise. I'm going to walk you through the marketing concepts that I guess. I think you've really got to crack if you want to succeed over the long term. So if you're a small business owner who wants to market your business better, but at the moment you're finding it's all a little bit overwhelming maybe you don't know where to start or maybe you're actually not sure if what you're doing is even working then I'm really, really glad that you are here, because we are going to build your knowledge so that you can market your business confidently.

Lily Richmond: 2:13

So a little bit about me. I'm Lily Richmond and for oh, I guess it's probably more than 22 years now. I've had a pretty diverse career in marketing in international markets across Europe and Australasia. You know I've driven results for some pretty well-known Fortune 500 brands, but I've also consulted and supported small business owners to get more out of their marketing. And hey, I've got a small business too, marketing on demand. It's a consulting and training business specifically for small business owners. So I do get what it's like to be a small business owner and how to market small business.

Lily Richmond: 2:52

I'm based here in New Zealand and this podcast is brought to you from my home office, which I do share with my two dogs. So that means that from time to time you might hear the odd bark, or you're more likely to hear gentle dog snores in the background that I just can't edit out that easily. Now I've created this podcast because I live in, breathe marketing and I'm really passionate about sharing what I've learned throughout my career along the way with small business owners so they can market better. You know, I've seen plenty of business owners in that hamster wheel getting very worn out by their marketing or they haven't been able to make the best decisions around it because you know they don't have the knowledge and the confidence that they need. But I also hate seeing a small business owner spend their marketing budget on the wrong things. So we are going to fix that together. So what can you expect when you tune in?

Lily Richmond: 3:50

Each huddle episode is intentionally short, and that's because I know that. You know you've probably got 101 things to do and you really don't have time for waffle. So the huddle is a place where I'll break down a marketing concept in really simple terms, with as little jargon as possible, and I'm going to explain how it applies to you as a small business owner and to help you make traction with that marketing. I'm also going to share ideas, tips or some actions that you can take right away to implement that marketing concept in your business. I really want this podcast to be focused on action so you can actually put these things into place. So here's a teaser of the next episode to get you started

Lily Richmond: 4:45

Looking at your business now and what you might want to achieve for the next year what does your marketing need to focus on to help you get there? Just to give you some examples is it to build your brand awareness? Maybe you want to enter into a new marketplace. Or maybe it's that you want to reposition your business into a different lucrative niche that you've uncovered in the last year. Or maybe you want to deepen relationships with your existing customers. You might have quite a large engaged customer base already that you really want to focus on giving the love and delivering more business through. Or maybe it's to set your business apart from your competitors with a new service offering that you've come up with. You know these are quite big, meaty marketing challenges to overcome in a year. Could you imagine doing all four of those at once in a year? It's going to be really hard when you're a small business and you don't have a big marketing team or a big marketing budget to play with. So prioritizing and being super, super focused and intentional, I think, is really key. So once you've settled on what your biggest marketing growth challenge is, then you can create a marketing plan, and a budget and a calendar are all around that biggest marketing challenge. So everything that you're going to do in that particular year is going to feed up into that overall goal, which will ultimately help you achieve your business objectives for 2024.

Lily Richmond: 6:14

Okay so, at the top of the episode I promised I would share a simple messaging hack to help you connect with your customers better than your competitors. And really it all is pretty simple and it starts by solving your customers' problems or challenges that they're having better than anyone else. Successful marketing starts by understanding what your customer's problem is so you can create a product or service that solves that problem for them. That's the exchange between consumer and business, ultimately. But how do you work out what challenge your customer is actually trying to solve? Well, it's time for a bit of desk research and brainstorming, and there are some really easy ways to gather some market intelligence.

Lily Richmond: 7:00

There are a few ways that you can gather information about what customers are asking or what they're searching for when they're looking for a product or service like yours. So head over to Google or whichever internet browser you use and put yourself into that customer's shoes. What would they be typing into Google? What questions would they be asking? And actually, google helps you with that. So you know, when you start typing something into Google, it's already predicting what you're wanting to type. Well, that's a really great tool, because that tells you what people are actually typing in, the sorts of things they are asking. So make some notes around those. Secondly, you might be familiar that when you scroll down the page, there'll be a section where it has related questions that people have asked. And this is gold, because this will give you the other types of questions that people are asking that relate to your product or service. So jot those down as well.

Lily Richmond: 7:59

A second place that you can go and look for this type of information is community pages on social media that might be related to the product or service that you offer or the problem that you solve. So if you sell gardening products, for example, it might be really good to get onto some gardening related Facebook communities and you can start to see what sorts of things people are asking about. What types of questions are they asking for help on? Where are they getting stuck? That can help you define what those problems are that your consumers are solving. And a third area that you can go and have a look are places like Quora or Reddit. There are other websites where people can go and ask questions and a community of people will answer them for them. You know, I certainly use it in my business to try and understand the sorts of things that small business owners might be asking about marketing. I go onto Quora and Reddit for small business marketing channels and I have a look and see what types of things people are commonly asking about. That helps me tailor what I do.

Lily Richmond: 9:00

Okay, so you've gathered that information. How do you now use it? Well, it's time to look at your marketing communications that you currently have. I want you to look hard at your current marketing and be honest with yourself. Are you talking about how great your product is or what features it has, or are you actually explaining how you're solving your customer's problem? It's fine to talk about the features of your product or service I'm not saying don't do that but it needs to be within the context of how it helps that consumer solve the problem that they are looking to solve. So you want to make sure that your marketing messages are explaining how you're going to help that customer solve their problem. You gathered that great intel online to find out what your customer is trying to figure out. So now it's time for you to answer those questions and whatever marketing that you create Now you can weave your answers to those questions and to say your product descriptions.

Lily Richmond: 9:57

If you have a website, social media posts, email campaigns, and it's going to give you some great ideas for things like blog posts or a frequently asked questions section on your website, it really demonstrates to your customer that you understand what they're going through and you actually have a way to help them move forward or go from A to B. So whenever you attempted to explain what your product does, a big piece of advice is flip it. Explain how your product or service that you offer helps, and you'll go a lot further, and I can guarantee you most of your competitors are probably not doing this, so it gives you a major advantage and a way for you to connect better with your consumer. So that's just a really simple little messaging hack Just flipping your thinking from talking about what you do and what you offer to how you actually help your consumer solve their problem is a really big way for you to be able to make a bigger impact with the marketing that you do. Thanks so much for being part of the huddle today.

Lily Richmond: 11:08

I really hope you enjoyed the episode and don't forget to hit subscribe, because next time we will cover how to unleash the power of focused marketing efforts by nailing down what your biggest marketing growth challenge is, and I'll explain all about it in that next episode. You don't want to miss it. And one other thing I'd really love for you to do once you've listened to this episode head to my website and grab yourself a copy of my free Marketing for Revenue Growth Guide. It'll help you prioritize your marketing to the stuff that actually will grow your revenue, and sometimes we do all need a reminder of that. So it's got some really quick and easy tips and well laid out explanation to help you.

Lily Richmond: 11:51

You can get that guide at my website, which is https://www. marketingondemand. co/ growth guide. And that's growth guide. All one word. Thanks for listening and I will catch you at the next episode of the Small Business Marketing Huddle. Now for the legal jargon. This podcast is for information and education purposes only. We make no business performance claims or guarantees in the information shared. The podcast content is general in nature and does not constitute advice for your unique business situation.