5 Tips for Building a Basic Yet Strong Marketing Foundation When You're Tight on Time and Resources

I know that when you're running a small or new business, time and resources are often limited. Trust me, I totally feel you on this. ​But what I often see this lead to is disconnected marketing pieces, which are probably holding back your growth. That being said, I know that there are so many facets and assets to marketing that it can be overwhelming. So, here are 5 tips to prevent overwhelm and help you build a basic yet strong marketing foundation, from which you can build up from as you grow. 

It's not marketing, it's relationship building.

What I always remind my clients of is that effective and meaningful marketing is a relationship-building journey. If you want to build a trusting and loyal customer base, it's got to be about the relationship, and not just "selling, selling, selling."

Think of each marketing piece as a step in building a stronger relationship. For example, you may have a killer social media ad or presence overall, but if that landing page, website, or product page your social media leads them to isn't also killer and clear, then your overall marketing campaign is that much weaker.

Beyond that though, think of a customer's journey from new potential customer who is just learning about you, to interested potential customer, to actual customer, to customer (hopefully) enjoying your products. 

I repeat. It's a relationship-building journey. And your communication matters.

Make sure your brand voice and tone are clearly defined and consistently applied.

This may seem obvious, but there's always some piece that gets overlooked, which means there are missed opportunities for conversion and relationship building.

For example, do you have product or service descriptions that are clear and enticing, and written in your brand's tone and voice? Or are they basic and possibly lacking personality?

Make sure your'e clear on what you're selling or doing.

This may also seem obvious, but it's worth stating. Why? I've seen brands with a great social media presence and engagement on their accounts, BUT it's not clear in their feed who they are or what they do. Typically this happens with nonprofits. because they're great at talking about the cause, but rarely talk about their own work and the fact that they're a nonprofit and need donors! So, they're missing a lot of opportunity by not being clear about who they are and what they do.

And if your brand voice and tone are consistent, it makes it easier to build out new assets as needed.

Also keep in mind that this may evolve and change as you grow and establish your brand. And that's a-okay. There's a difference between generic messaging and growth.

Build out a Roadmap

To help you stay organized and do what you've got the bandwidth to do, create a little content roadmap so you can stay on top of each marketing asset. I'm personally really bad at staying on top of my social media account, and that largely. has to do with my bandwidth for content creation. That being said, it definitely helps me out when I set aside a little time to plan out the next week's or month's content. 

Sometimes at a bare minimum, I think about the birdseye view plan so that at least I have a loose guide to follow. And even that makes all the difference.

Don't feel you have to do everything right away.

If you only start with a website, make sure you have a solid Home page, About page, and product/services descriptions.

Additionally I'd recommend setting up a basic Welcome Email sequence with a minimum of 4 emails, allowing new and potential customers to get to know you and build trust right away. Ideally, you'll be sending regular emails, whether that's once a week or once a month, or more. But for starters and at a bare minimum, just think of the most basic opportunities for communication that you will have.

To that point, within any marketing asset you create, make sure you utilize every piece of marketing real estate. For example, in email marketing, the places I often see missed opportunities are email sign-ups, subscription confirmation emails, and subscription confirmation pages. 

So, repeating in different words what I said in my first tip, think of your customer's whole journey and your communication with them throughout their journey, even after they've made a purchase...especially after!