Get out of Your Comfort Zone to Grow Your Business Profitably

As I learned early on in my first business (Interactive Cuisine), if you build it, they won’t necessarily come.  I had some warped sense that people would hear the concept (in-home cooking demonstrations that lead into a gourmet dinner party), the buzz would kick into high gear, and the phone would ring off the hook. Needless to say, that didn’t happen, and I got a quick education in the value of marketing. I started teaching cooking classes at the BCAE and wrote press releases. I sent mailings and offered promotions.  I had a wonderful mentor who taught me some tricks.  Eventually, all the marketing paid off. I secured a few TV spots (cooking demos on Fox News, and a feature on Chronicle). The marketing buzz took hold and began turning into revenue.

Truth be told, I’ve never enjoyed marketing.  I do the bare minimum to keep my business top of mind for my clients. I have a few “marketing activities” that I enjoy – so I focus on those. And I have a new mentor who coaches me.

Before I continue on with my story about marketing, I want to take a little side bar and tell you about Myrna, my marketing mentor. I met her many years ago when she offered marketing advice during a panel discussion for women entrepreneurs; her advice was spot on. Over the years, we cultivated a friendship – cross-promoting each other to prospective clients and helping each other with our respective skills.  She helps me with marketing; I help her with financial management.

Twenty (!!!) years after my first lesson in marketing, I’m launching my fourth venture. As Myrna and I have worked together to create a marketing plan, I developed a greater understanding of my clients’ fear of numbers. As Myrna energetically waxes on about marketing strategies, clearly passionate about their value, my eyes glaze over. I harness every ounce of strength to focus on Myrna’s words and not browse Facebook.  She talks about messaging and audiences, and my head hurts. I know it’s good for me, but lordy, it’s painful. For those of you who have “endured” my talks about financial management, this might sound familiar.

Nonetheless, I know I must do it. I learned with my first business, the phone won’t ring (or in this case, the email won’t buzz) unless people know about it. I need to understand who my target customers are, how to reach them, and what message will resonate with them. Certainly, word of mouth can happen, but it usually takes a little nudge. And the more focused the “nudge,” the better success you’ll have.

Perhaps the most interesting lesson in all of this… as I gained a greater understanding of my clients’ pain, I also better understood my customers.

The Farmer’s Office Online is obviously designed to help farmers in general, but not all farmers are likely to want or care about learning what I have to offer.

When many people try to target their ideal customers, they focus on demographics, job titles, or interests such as, “organic and sustainable farmers” or “farm managers.” While that can be useful, Myrna taught me to focus on the people who are motivated to sign up for The Farmer’s Office. In my case, I’ve identified that group as “farmers who know that they don’t know about financial management, and want to know.”  This, as opposed to, “farmers who know that they don’t know, and don’t care.”

Why does this matter?  It all comes down to messaging and reaching target customers.

For “farmers who know they don’t know and want to know”, my message is simple:

• There are resources out there to make it easier for you.
• We can show you where to begin to get your finances in order.
• We have a support system for you, as you start creating systems.

If my target customers are “farmers who know they don’t know, and don’t care,” then I need to create messaging to persuade them why they should care.

• Their profits could be higher if they paid attention to financial management.
• They could work smarter, not harder, to earn more money.
• They could more simply answer some of their most vexing questions, and save time with year-end budgeting and planning.

Will I ever be as passionate about marketing as I am financial management? Probably not. But I recognize that if I want my business to succeed, I need to put in the same effort here that I do into financial management.   As I mentioned in an earlier article, successful businesses must be good at financial management, marketing and operations. Business owners who ignore any part of that equation jeopardize their thrive-ability.  And oftentimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to increase your chances of success.

Survey
Since I have your attention, I thought I’d do a little market research.  Please take this quick, 5 question survey. I will offer a one hour, free coaching call to a random respondent.