The majority of my clients are entrepreneurs like myself. That means means we wear a lot of “hats”. I know there are things you’d like to implement in your business, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I get it.
For example, COULD you create your own website? Yes, there are standard template websites out there that are simple and affordable.
SHOULD you do it yourself? That depends.
Do you want a website, or do you want a website THAT WORKS for you? That gets you FOUND on the Internet? You could make one, but it might not get you the RESULTS you need for your business.
How much time to do you have to research the best features for a website? Will it look professional? When it comes to a website, first impressions are critical.
How do you decide if you should do a marketing task yourself or hire someone to help?
5 Criteria for Implementation
1. Knowledge. First, ask yourself if you KNOW how to do it already. Maybe you want a direct mail piece and you have experience putting one together from a past job. Great, then you know what it takes to prepare an effective piece, include a call to action, and measure the results. Go for it. On the other hand, if you are trying direct mail for the first time, it’s best to consult an expert. You have to look at your ROI. Direct mail can be expensive. You want to make sure your target market opens it, reads it, and takes action. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
2. Time. Do you have enough TIME to implement your marketing task? Look at your weekly schedule, can you dedicate enough time to plan and implement your project? You don’t want to spend time on your plan and then not be able to see it through. That’s disappointing. Projects always tend to take longer than you’d expect.
3. Strengths. You know what you like and what you are good at. When you are an entrepreneur you have to do everything for your company. You are the salesperson, the bookkeeper, the marketer, customer service, and most likely producing your product or providing the service yourself. I believe entrepreneurs are more successful when they focus on their STRENGTHS, not their weakness. Discover my strengths and your own, read this post.
If you want a fun video that explains how your business is different, could you create it yourself? Possibly. Is that something you like to do? Something you are good at? If so, then go for it. If you don’t like taking photos, shooting video, cropping and clipping, editing and editing and editing some more, posting it to YouTube, then maybe you should hire an expert with experience. Tell them what you want the end result to look like, then let them work out the details. In the meantime, you can focus on your clients and gaining more new clients!
4. Money. Can’t talk about implementation without talking about money. But here’s what you need to be comparing. If you have a project like setting up a Facebook business page, determine what it would cost for someone else to do that for you. Let’s say they create the page for you, invite friends to become fans, create a custom URL, add photos, make it search engine friendly, etc. for $125.00. If you had to research how to create the page, how to get fans, how to do the custom URL, upload the photos, tag your clients, etc. how much time would it take you? Let’s estimate 5 hours. Multiply 5 by your hourly rate. If it is less than $125, do the research and create the page yourself. If it is more than $125, then your money is better spent hiring an expert and freeing up your time to focus on your clients.
5. Creativity. When it comes to marketing, creativity counts! Sitting alone at your desk, trying to come up with new ideas to attract your ideal client can be a real challenge. You could end up spending hours surfing the Internet and come up empty handed. Or worse, you could copy someone else’s strategy, without knowing all the details, and it flops. Costing you valuable time and money. If you are the creative type and can think outside the box, then create your own plan. But if you’d like to work with a team, full of ideas for small business owners, then ask for help. There are many low cost or no cost marketing tactics that you can implement in your business. Many of them you can do yourself, if you only had the idea.
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services. I love brainstorming, creating and implementing. When I work with my clients, we come up with a specific plan tailored to your business or organization. Then, I ask you how much of the plan you’d like to implement on your own. Some clients say, all of it, some ask me to implement it all, and others want something in between. Your decision is based on the above, how much you know about the topic, how much time you have, is it your strength, etc.
If you need help creating and implementing marketing related tasks, give me a call. I cater to entrepreneurs, small business owners and organizations. I became an entrepreneur with my first business in 2000 and have been marketing my own businesses ever since. Some jointly owned with my husband. Let me put my experience to work for you!
Let’s get started! Learn more about how I work.
Michelle Aspelin
Entrepreneur and Professional Implementer
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services
952-484-6015