First of all, yes, I'm old, but I also started this journey as a young, spry, 19-year-old.
These last 38 years have been fun… except when it wasn't. But it's been a ride filled with learning.
I've made great marketing decisions, and others have failed, sometimes epically.
After selling my second business, built from the ground up, I'm now dedicated to helping small business owners, specifically brewers of great beer, achieve their dreams.
Without further ado, here's my list of 38 things you should know about marketing to help your business grow and flourish!
Direct mail, done right, outproduces any other marketing method.
Building a customer list needs to be part of your daily efforts, like brushing your teeth.
Everywhere your customer is is a good place for you to be, but never try to be everywhere; that's a recipe for failure.
Always search for additional bolt-on revenue streams; don't stress how your revenue streams align. Stress about needing more revenue streams.
Enhance the customer experience whenever possible. When you're complacent about your customers' experiences, that complacency will manifest in your customers' experiences.
Poor-performing employees significantly impact your business more than your high-performing employees.
Repetition is the key to clear messaging in your marketing. You'll think you're being redundant; your customers won't.
When dealing with customer issues, admitting, if true, that you're wrong is always the best solution.
Ignoring your Google Business Profile at your own expense. It's the best free form of advertising, yet almost every business needs to use it, use it properly, or underutilize it.
Don't try to do everything great, but perform at your absolute highest level for everything you do.
Share what you're outstanding at, and beat that drum regularly, without boasting but with pride. That's always appealing to a potential customer.
Putting your success on the back of your great beer is asking too much. Your marketing needs to do the heavy lifting, and your product delivers your customer's expectations.
If nothing besides your beer makes you unique… I'll argue you're not special.
Give people a reason to visit your business beyond just your beer, and more people will start enjoying your beer.
You don't have to be on every social media, but do the ones you choose to use... use them well… and often.
Marketing is hard, and marketing does a lot of hard work for you, so accept that the effort will be worth it.
Tell people EVERYTHING you want them to do in your marketing messages, exactly how they should do it. Leaving things out, and you're handicapping your marketing efforts.
Business success comes from doing the things you hate doing… well, with all the passion and motivation you can muster.
Business success is boring and repetitive; successful business people embrace the boring.
Be curious to know what your customers don't like about you and your product/business. They will clearly let you understand what they like; odds are there's some of both.
If you're not regularly inviting people to your business, why are you surprised if they're not coming to the desired degree?
Your logo is essential but probably less important than you think. The important thing is where and how often your logo is seen.
Never discount a contrary opinion in your business; if one person is thinking it, there's inevitably more who would agree.
If you want to sell something daily, you better be marketing your business daily.
Your success is directly proportional to how well you know your customers' wants and needs.
If you're marketing your business correctly, every name that joins your customer list is an additional profit.
Just be you in your marketing, which will be appealing. Don't act; be authentic; the real you will shine; a fake you will repel potential customers.
The more entrenched you are in your community and connected to your fellow business owners, the more successful your business will be.
Do you know what your customers do when not at your place? When you understand that, you're in a position to grow.
Local influencers are an often untapped gold mine. Court them, take care of them, and it will pay off 10 fold, 100 fold, or more.
Encourage your customers, as much as possible, to share their experiences on social media. Make it easy and fun for them to do it!
Onsite sales brewers, customers spend the second most amount of time in your bathrooms. Clean bathrooms are just the first step; you must do more... make your restrooms memorable.
The more harmonious your messaging is, the better it is.
If you have fun making your marketing materials, they will be better. If you dread doing your marketing, that's going to come across to people.
Always measure your marketing efforts, specifically paid marketing. Pro marketers measure; amateur marketers don't. Pro marketers succeed; amateur marketers don't.
Constantly test your marketing. Testing is a small investment that pays massive dividends in the long run.
Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful, so create opportunities for them to happen.
Need more sales? Increase the perceived value of your products before you lower the price. Lowering your prices could reduce the perceived value of your products.
BONUS - Market your business towards your customer's wants, not their needs.
So, there's a bit of marketing value for every year I've been doing this, plus an extra one. I hope these concepts challenge you, inform you, and, most importantly, help you!
And staying on that topic, I'm here to help you, and the best way to get more advice and help marketing your brewery is to join my list; I send daily(ish) emails with helpful information and a newsletter that allows me to go deeper.
Joining my list is entirely free, so give it a try; click here to enroll.
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