Today I wanted to talk about one big problem I see so many business owners making. 

It’s called Random Acts of Marketing. These are the things you feel you should be doing, rather than the things that are going to help you achieve your goals.  It's that 'Shiny Object Syndrome,' where you find yourself jumping from one thing that's supposed to work to another, with no real compass or true North Star.  What if I tolf you that this could be the exact reason you're not seeing any returns from your marketing dollars.

What Are 'Random' Acts of Marketing?

RAMs, or Random Acts of Marketing, was a term popularised by CMO Karen Hayward. She is the author of Stop Random Acts of Marketing, a self-styled guidebook for small business owners who need a clear way to harness online marketing to grow their sales and revenue.

Hayward found that one of the most significant roadblocks to a small business’s growth success is lack of a comprehensive marketing or growth plan.  Instead of committing to intentional acts of marketing through a cohesive strategy, small businesses often used a ‘let’s throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks’ approach. They're not sure which strategies will work for their businesses and which are just sucking their marketing dollars up with no ROI. They're listening to 'gurus' who offer generalised 'advice,' but who have no real understanding of what their business truly needs (and what they can let go of).

I've seen this before and it's like playing Roulette. You may get lucky at some point and something will stick.  But it’ll also eventually slide off.

How can you recognise a RAM, or a Random Act of Marketing?

Here are four useful ways to spot these in your small business:

1. Any marketing you do comes from a desperate attempt to get customers through your doors.
2. Your activities aren't data-driven.
3. The strategies you use haven't been researched for your market, so they're not thoughtfully aligned with your business and your customers' needs. 
4. There's no consistency to your actions nor coherent reasons why you're choosing these activities over others. They tend to be reactionary. 

'Random' marketing often look like a mixed bag of one-off attempts that include:

• One promotional mailout sent last year 
• A few social posts but nothing for a while
• A Facebook ad campaign that you had your son do for you
• An email sent out last year about something
• A glossy video about your business that you paid to produce — except now you have no idea what to do with it

To make things worse, you can't track back a single customer walking in, being persuaded, purchasing, or signing up for your products/services to these activities. And this is despite pouring money into these initiatives.   The activities are based on what you think you should do, potentially even because that's what you've seen other businesses doing, rather than what you must do, which are activities specifically tailored to your unique business needs. 

It's frustrating. 

You're not alone thought. Hundreds of small businesses just like you are currently experiencing the same confusion and overwhelm when it comes to getting clear on their marketing activities. 

Why do businesses avoid intentional marketing strategies?

Businesses who perform RAMs mistakenly assume a few things about consistent, intentional marketing strategies:

• It's going to significantly increase their budget (the truth is, RAMs actually waste money and can hurt your brand).
• A marketing strategy is just a static 'document' and we can do that in-house (which is a sure sign that they haven't worked with an expert who knows marketing is a living, breathing activity that needs to be agile and responsive to a company's growth).
• They can post a few times on [insert social media platform here] and believe people will learn about their services (following the 'Rule of Seven,' it actually takes at least seven 'interactions' or encounters with your business for someone to know and remember you, let alone trust you enough to make a purchase).
• Conversely, they're reluctant to even start these marketing activities because they have heard it 'takes a long time to see any traction' (actually, the opposite is true: perform RAMs and you're guaranteed to remain invisible and tractionless).

Behind these marketing myths is a misunderstanding about the very positive (and simple) relationship between marketing and consumers: Consumers are going to make choices about what to buy. Marketing is the way you give them a clear and compelling reason why to buy from you. 

That's why it's so important to be intentional and know your why when deciding on the type, frequency, and platform for your marketing activities. 

A story...

Recently, I met with a small business owner who runs a recruitment agency. Her aim was to attract new clients to the agency (potential employers).

To get a sense of where her business currently sits, I asked her how she brings in clients right now. And her answer was, sadly, not a new one.

‘We write social posts sometimes, the recruiters do blog posts occasionally, and we send a monthly newsletter. Mostly we get clients via referrals.’ 

When I asked her which marketing initiatives she focuses on and does consistently every single week, her response was once again familiar: ‘Nothing regular. We don’t have a marketing plan. We’re just so busy running the business.’

She's not the only one.

SMEs often object to [marketing] techniques because they can be a time consuming activity, despite…having the potential to be highly rewarding.

Despite her very real justifications of a lack of time, my client here needs to get behind an intentional, specific marketing strategy because of what she says next. 

‘I see all our competitors beating us on Google search, and their social media platforms have loads of followers, but I know we’re better than them!’

Her competitors' success is a motivating factor, and she knows her business is better. However, she isn't following up with intentional acts of marketing.

And that’s because, without a consistent marketing strategy, she’s not visible to her ideal clients. 

Instead, she’s relying on referrals when she must create a reliable machine for lead generation. She’s busy running her business, so she’s not consistent with social media posts. Her recruiters ‘occasionally write’ articles, but are those working to bring in traffic and answer people's search questions? Definitely not.

My client’s story feels indicative of what so many small businesses go through. They’re all valid problems — but justifying them doesn’t help. Instead, her business — and, likely, yours as well — needs a data-driven, specific, growth-oriented, and consistent approach to marketing.

And there are three easy steps in this journey.

The 4 Keys for Getting Consistent with Small Business Marketing

1) KYA — Know Your Audience

Your first step is to learn who your audience — also known as customers, clients, and visitors — is. They speak in a certain way, they’re looking for certain things from your business, and they demonstrate certain behaviours.

For example, a woman who ran a successful small business on Etsy selling enamel pins encouraged her husband to start his own digital ‘shop.’ His product line featured replicas of Minecraft figurines, emulator disks for old video games, and comic book paraphernalia.  For months, he had zero sales. Clearly, Etsy customers — who are mainly aged 25-45, college-educated women with disposable income — weren’t too interested in these items.

In a stroke of luck, he happened to mention one of his products in a Reddit forum. Suddenly, he had an absolute influx of customers and sales in the next month. He sold out and had to place backorders.

The moral of this story is that you need to know who your audience is and where they already live. Don’t make assumptions about what they want or where you can find them. Find where they are and match their expectations with marketing outreach strategies.

2) Find the Path of Least Resistance and the Channel of Most Growth

I always tell small business owners who feel that marketing is completely overwhelming (and, thus, ‘optional’) to start small. And, ideally, they need to be starting on a platform that feels natural and native.  I call it taking the path of least resistance by identifying the channel of most growth.

Here’s how it works: Start off by focusing on one platform or marketing strategy. The way you identify this is to do market research — or work with a marketing coach — to find out where your customers are currently ‘living.’

For some, that’s social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Together, social platforms attract 80% of Australians online.  For others, that’s ranking blog content. Some businesses, like restaurants, don’t need content like blogs. They absolutely thrive on review-based sites (also called reputation management) and we can weave social media posts on one platform only (in this case, Pinterest).

Based on the platform that has proven to be most effective for your goals, we then create a consistent marketing strategy. If it’s a content-based strategy for social media, we map that to a calendar. 

For example, every Tuesday and Thursday, you’ll be posting specific types of social media content to your Instagram account. Every comment gets a response from you, the business owner, to boost engagement rates and foster authentic communication.

On Monday and Wednesday, you'll focus on creating paid ads on Google and reviewing the results to make sure that your marketing budget is working for you, bringing in steady leads.

3. Let’s Get Visible, Visible

Consistent marketing strategies also contribute to increased visibility.  So my third strategy to avoid random acts of marketing is to stop being your niche’s best-kept secret!

Luckily, you don’t have to add anything else to your plate. A comprehensive marketing plan will incorporate this priority.

The goal is to get your calendar solidly booked out three, six, and even 12 months in advance. You want to be generating more calls and enquiries than you can handle so you have a ready-made pool of clients rather than chasing them.

Consistent content marketing is a proven way to build this kind of authority and visibility. Some examples of actions to take consistently are:

•         Create clients case studies/stories.

•         Get testimonials.

•         Create videos and curated content.

•         Create a regular newsletter that offers simple things your customers can do to achieve their goals.

4. Get a Marketing Coach on Your Side

When growing a small business, it seems that money is the most valuable resource.

But, the fact of the matter is that it’s actually time. If you recall, that’s exactly what my client said to me:

‘We don’t have a marketing plan. We’re just so busy running the business.’

It takes focused time and effort to do relevant research and articulate a plan that’s going to align your business goals with the actions you need to take.

With over 20 years of experience working with small, medium, and large businesses and non-profits, I know how to assess your business and maximise its growth potential through marketing.

If you’re ready to learn how to get more consistent with your ‘acts of marketing,’ book a 30-minute consult with my  and I'm positive together, we can move the marketing needle in your business through my marketing coaching services or even a simple Diagnostic Workshop is a great place to start!

It's time to get very focused and intentional with your marketing strategies folks. After all, your business should be working for you, instead of you for it. Avoiding random acts of marketing will help you achieve just that.

Have a great (and focused) week!

Dina x