How to get stupidly easy wins from your marketing as a local business

Wasted marketing budgets.

“Potential customers” leading you on like you met on Tinder.

And the kind of frustration you get from playing unemployed people at Call of Duty.

I’ve seen, been through, and heard all of the marketing nightmares you can imagine.

Here’s how to get easy wins - using tactics I’ve used to help local businesses land clients fast:

Quick wins with direct marketing

Business classes at university will crash your business into the ground.

They’ll talk about “Brand awareness” and blanketing the market with your ad budget until everyone and their nan has seen your business.

It worked for Google, Coca-Cola, and the big brands.

It still works for them today. (Although it’s the least effective way to get your money's worth out of marketing.)

But here’s where the universities get it wrong…

If you run a small business, you don’t have millions of pounds in ad budget to do this.

We’re not looking to pay Johny Depp to say our brand name and run off the screen.

Besides, Google got in so much debt before they turned a profit that it would make a grown man cry.

Not ideal.

You need direct marketing, not brand awareness.

Direct marketing is you being in front of your ideal customers with an offer and telling them to do something.

“Looking for a plumber? Give me a call”

Brand awareness is “North London plumbers, the best in London.” and spending as much money as it takes for people to buy from you.

What to put in your marketing

Here’s where it gets stupidly simple.

You don’t need ten offers.

Just figure out what your customers ask for the most.

If most of your customers want their fence painted, congrats. Your marketing is now all about fences.

Not because you go to sleep kicking your feet together, thinking about it.

But because it’s what people actually pay you for.

Most businesses try to be everything. You just need to be known for one thing. Repeat it until people hear your name and instantly think of it.

Repetition builds reputation.

Not clever taglines. Not new services every week. Just hammering the one thing people want, over and over again.

It’s your reusable pick-up line, but this one makes you money instead of costing you it.

This leads me to the last point:

This isn’t Britain’s Got Talent

They don’t care if your logo looks like it was handcrafted by monks in the Alps.

Or if your flyer has three gradients, two QR codes, and a motivational quote slapped on the back.

They care about one thing:

Can you solve their problem or not?

That’s it.

No one’s waking up thinking, “I hope I find a local business with a really clever slogan today.”

They’re thinking, “My fence looks like it’s been through a divorce. Who can fix it?”

So give them a clear offer. Tell them what to do next. And don’t try to be cute about it.

Clarity over clever. Every single time.

It’s not about being impressive. It’s about being obvious.

And that’s how you win.

None of this dog with a ribbon saying “rot row” with its paw against his forehead stuff.

(Yes, that was a real ad I saw on Facebook before.)

Until next time,

Shane

P.S. Want someone to look at your marketing and tell you exactly what to push? I’m your guy.

Fill out my form here and we’ll see if we’d be a good fit.