Creating Purposeful Marketing

Business Planning

Reflection of the Week

Creating Purposeful Marketing

Happy Friday, all!

As many of you have already seen, I’m a part of the 15-Minute Marketing Summit that launched this week. In addition to the summit, we dropped my MDB Conversation with the summit creator, Lauren Tilden.

Lauren is the host of the Making Good podcast and a marketing coach dedicated to helping creative small business owners who want to get out of their own way and start making an impact. After 8 years in corporate marketing, Lauren left her corporate career and began her winding journey to owning and supporting small businesses. She offers insights into defining one’s ideal customer, creating goal-oriented marketing plans, and staying consistent with your message.

 

Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses are motivated by more than money.
Growing up, Lauren felt she had to choose between making a living and doing meaningful work. However, once she entered the small business world, she realized she could achieve purpose and profit by intentionally putting her values first.

“I always sort of felt like I had to choose between making money … and doing something I cared about,” Lauren said. “It wasn’t really until I got into the small business space that I realized you can do both at the same time.”

 

Get clear on your marketing goals.
Impactful marketing starts with a well-defined goal. Lauren advised small business owners to pinpoint what they need from their marketing efforts, such as increasing brand awareness, generating sales, or expanding a specific client base. Knowing your goal can help you create a campaign that enables you to achieve it.

“The first place that most people overlook is to get really, really clear on what your goal is,” Lauren said. “Marketing can do so many different things for us. If I didn’t know my goal, I could end up spending my time all wrong.”

 

Don’t let a niche box you in.
Instead of solely focusing on servicing a niche, Lauren encouraged entrepreneurs to understand their ideal customer’s motivations, challenges, and values. By getting clear on these psychological details, business owners can create messaging that resonates with target customers on a deeper level.

“What unites the people that buy from me and that are part of my community are their psychographics and what they care about,” Lauren said. “I know my ideal customer super well.”

 

Design a marketing plan that meets your time requirements.
 

Small business owners are busy, so it’s especially important to realistically assess the time you have available to dedicate to marketing. Lauren advised entrepreneurs to create achievable marketing plans they can follow consistently, even if it means starting slow and with just one or two platforms.

“When you set yourself up for a plan you can’t actually stick to given your bandwidth, that is a recipe … for feeling bad about yourself and your ability to follow through,” Lauren said. “There is no upside to biting off more than you can chew, so create a marketing plan based on the time you have available each week.”

 

Questions of the Week

  • Do you have a clear marketing strategy?
  • Do you know who your ideal customer is?
  • How many hours a week do you spend marketing your business?

 

Tools of the Week

Lauren is a treasure trove of great marketing ideas. You can listen to her podcast and learn more about her at the links below.

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