There are plenty of marketing challenges for small business owners which you will need to overcome in order to create a successful marketing campaign to move your business forwards. For starters you will need to learn some new skills and those skills are marketing online. However, even with some online marketing skills, a business owner has a number of challenges which may stand in the way of their ultimate success.
Fear Of SpendingÂ
Learning how to advertise online is only a matter of time and effort. Pretty much anyone can learn the simple techniques which allow you to reach a larger target audience and promote your business. However, the one thing which trips up many small business owners is budgeting their advertising expenditure. If you are are afraid to spend on advertising, it’s almost impossible to grow your business at a faster rate than it is currently  either growing (or diminishing). Worse still, your business could be relying on word of mouth and passing trade, which means your competitors are taking the lion share of internet based trade and you could be missing out.
Miss-allocation Of Resources
If this rings a bell for you think about something which you have recently spent money on. Could you use this to build your business instead? Many small business owners will refuse to increase their spending budget but insist on maintaining their current lifestyle. This makes no sense because a small increase in their spending budget could mean an overall increase in their living standards due to a larger business. It may take some time to see results but in the long run your business will be more lucrative.
The good news is that anyone with a small business can start advertising for as little as £5 a day or less and tweek their budget as they see results from their campaigns. The idea is to create a few adverts which target your audience (see why is target market important), and pick the one which gives the best return on investment. This means tracking your clicks and purchases or inquiries. You can’t control or change something you don’t measure. Again this is more learning but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Mindset – Limited Thinking
As a small business owner the buck stops with you. How much have you invested this year in improving yourself? Do you regularly spend time with other business owners and entrepreneurs? If the answer is no, it is likely that your thinking may be causing a blockage in your businesses potential. As with a fear of spending, a mindset which refuses to change, and insists on doing things “as they have always been done” will not help move a business forwards. “If you on keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got” – W.L Bateman
Often we are unaware of our own limited thinking and how this holds us back from a larger paycheck and a larger life. If there is an area which you would like to improve in your life, the answer will almost always lie in your current thinking. Unless this changes, you situation won’t, You must change for things to change for you.
Lack Of Ambition
You business can’t be a big success if you only think of yourself as the small underdog who ‘muddles through’ or, worse still as a failure. If you think in this way about yourself, or your business, it’s a clue as to where your business is going. Remember your vision of what you want regularly and put energy into the idea of your business being as big and successful as you dream it can be, rather than only doing ‘just enough’. Reading success books like The Magic of Thinking Big, Think and Grow Rich and The Science Of Getting Rich will help you to see yourself, your thoughts, words and deeds and intricate part of the mechanics of your business. Get this book on How To Get Lots Of Money for Anything Fast.
If you hold doubt about yourself in your mind it will translate into your business in some way. Holding on to your ultimate vision of what success is to you, and keeping it fresh in your mind will push you forwards and hold you accountable for the success (or lack of it) of your business.
Not Taking Responsibility
Stepping up and taking responsibility for every aspect of your life will empower you.
If you ever find yourself deferring responsibility to others and passing the ‘buck’ you are doing yourself out of an opportunity for growth and change. No-one is perfect but opening your eyes to the fact that you can change you will begin to see your limitations in a new light. By understanding that your limitations are manifested in your business can give you fresh insight into new ways to develop yourself, take a greater responsibility for your shortcomings and step up ready for a greater success.
A Negative Self Image
Marketing Challenges For Small Business owners are not entirely the domain of learning new skills and placing advertising. A vital component of any small business is wrapped up in the self image of its owner.
This is such an important factor but it often is neglected to the detriment of a business. Have you ever had everything in place for success but it still remains out of reach for some reason. A reason you can’t quite put your finger on? The answer is self image. Your self image is the little voice in your mind which can sabotage all your hard work with a single act, just when everything was about to fall into place. Only by changing your self image can you get around this intrinsic mental obstacle. Read The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz.
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