Here are some indisputable sales facts:
*You and your small business will remain pocket poor until other people know about you and your business.
*Marketing is essential for any business to survive and ultimately thrive
*The majority of marketing by small businesses miss the mark
*Much of the marketing fails to deliver a sustainable return on investment
Peter Drucker, who is considered the guru of business, said, “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions, marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rests are costs.”
Drucker also realized the aim of marketing and he prioritized that aim:
*”To know and understand the customer to well.”
*”The product or service fits him and sells itself.”
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The reason I shared Drucker’s wisdom is because many small business owners and salespeople have not discovered LinkedIn, a powerful free marketing tool. It is a free social media marketing tool that can dramatically expand your credibility, expertise, network and bottom line.
Even though LinkedIn is geared toward B2B enterprises, more and more professionals are using this platform for B2C enterprises. For many professionals, when speaking to or meeting someone new, the first action they take when returning to the office is to check the person out on LinkedIn.
Of course, like any tool, it requires some knowledge and continued honing. To use this tool poorly can potentially harm a professional’s business credibility. This is why it makes sense to take advantage of the many free or affordable seminars on using LinkedIn.
As to return on investment, 20 to 30 minutes a day between postings, doing prospecting and engaging in groups can quickly yield measurable results. Currently, every article I post on LinkedIn plus within six months earns me one executive coaching client. Given it takes me two to three hours to write and post the article that is still a good investment of my time. How many two- to three-hour B2B networking events do you attend and get one sale from that event?
If people buy from people they know and trust, then it makes sense to use tools that will allow people to start to know you and trust you. When those tools are free, all the better! And when those tools provide you the opportunity to differentiate yourself, to be that red jacket in a sea of gray suits, you have hit that proverbial small business grand slam.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.