On Thin Ice.
When you attempt to be everywhere and do all the things with your marketing, you spread yourself too thin. Most wedding and event businesses are small and can't afford the payroll of a dedicated marketing team. In most of the weddings and special events businesses that I’ve worked with, the business owner wears all the hats. The marketing cap can wind up being the biggest, most awkward but also the most worn.
When you spread yourself too thin across too many different platforms, you lose focus. That’s a great recipe for marketing without intention. When you’re not focusing and being intentional about your marketing, none of it works as well as it could because all of it suffers.
More With Less.
You're not in business to be a marketing agency for yourself. You're in business to create extraordinary experiences for your clients, and more of them. Try to remind yourself of that! You don’t have to jam-pack your day with endless marketing activities just so you can say that you’re marketing. Contrary to what many event professionals may think, you can book more by doing fewer marketing activities but doing them in a focused and intentional way. Better results by doing less? Now that’s what I’m talking about!
Instead of doing more marketing activities and getting diminishing returns on each, I challenge you to select 3-4 marketing channels to focus on for the next 90 days. Perhaps for you, those particular marketing channels of choice are Instagram, Pinterest, referral marketing, and SEO.
Get Selective.
Selecting your channels up front allows you to focus in for a set period so you don't have to feel like you need to be doing everything else you could possibly be doing. Your goal is to be intentional and consistent on your chosen marketing channels. Decide now what you’ll do every week one each of these marketing channels.
For example, decide what you’ll post and when for each social media platform. Decide on your activities to improve your relationships with referral partners and map them out on your calendar. Set out steps to take over the next 90 days to improve your SEO so you can follow your own roadmap.
Measured Success.
A big part of marketing with intention is measuring to see what’s working and what isn’t. You have to determine where you’re getting the best return on investment. Why? So you can do more of what’s working and less of what’s not. That’s right, you get to stop doing things that don’t work for you because they aren’t worth your time, money, or effort when you can just opt for things that are.
Not every marketing channel or tactic works for every business. You have to be open to trial and error. When you do find something that works well, consider doubling down on it to get even more out of it. This is all part of developing a marketing plan for your business that makes it easier and less overwhelming. If you’d like to create a marketing plan for your business, you can watch my free training, How To Squash "Overwhelm" With A Marketing Plan right here.
The Importance of "Why."
Marketing with intention requires you asking yourself “why am I doing this?” Are you doing this because it’s something that works to get you more clients? Or, are you doing it because you feel like you should? Or, maybe, because everyone else is doing it? Perhaps it's because it’s a shiny object and it seems exciting at the moment?
You can start being more intentional by taking stock of the marketing activities you’re currently doing and what the return is for each of them. Do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t. It will make marketing your business so much easier and it will make your marketing more effective!
Hero photo courtesy Nikk Nguyen
About the Author
