I love marketing more than most people. I love it because it allows people to build an audience, spread a message, make a difference in the world, and also make an incredible income.
So, what’s there not to love??
But, when we love something, it’s important to take good care of it, and that’s something I see people NOT doing all the time…
If you don’t take good care of your marketing and your business, it simply won’t be able to take care of you. Just like every great relationship, it takes a little work and some TLC. Great marketing can do incredible things for your life and career, so it’s time we show it a little extra love.
Get ready for the best and longest analogy ever.
Just because I love marketing so much, and my patio flowers this year are looking oh-so-stunning (if I do say so myself), I thought I’d show you how similar marketing and flower gardening really are, and exactly how I’m getting better at both.
Here we go… the 7 ways marketing is like flower gardening (and how to take better care of those geraniums and your business)…
Reason #1: You can’t just pop in once a week, you have to show up every day…
OK, this one’s the most obvious and most important (AND most forgotten).
When it comes to both business and flower maintenance, it’s easy to skip a few days and think everything will be okay.
Well, realistically, maybe you can skip a day once in a while and get away with it. But, if you skip too many, those plants will look pretty brown when you get back (ha, been there).
The same is true with your marketing. To see results, you must show up every day. You don’t have to spend all day every day marketing your business, but you should do it a little bit each day.
Like most areas of life, it doesn’t work to just show up once in a while. Real results are achieved by daily action.
Reason #2: Some of the best ones are free…
Growing pretty flowers is awesome, but getting pretty flowers from a loved one is much better.
The same is true for marketing. Free is awesome, and often the free stuff is better than the stuff you have to pay for.
**In both cases, this isn’t ALWAYS true. Nobody likes flowers from that creepy stranger on Valentine’s Day. And sometimes, free marketing can be horrifically tacky. So, use your best judgment in both cases and you should be able to tell the difference.
Reason #3: It’s easy to overdo it…
I regularly overwater the plants on my deck.
Seriously… it’s sad how often it happens.
I water them too much and the drainage pans below fill up and overflow. The excess water runs off of my patio and onto the edge of the patio below me. Then I get a call from the office downstairs because the lady below me complains (I’m sorry 3 square inches of your patio got wet… but if I’m being honest, it will probably happen again tomorrow morning).
Just like watering flowers, marketing calls for balance.
Your audience wants to hear from you regularly, but if you drown them in messages (emails, social media posts, postcards, commercials), they will start to feel suffocated and annoyed.
My rule of thumb? Include a lot of personal thoughts, stories, and photos in your marketing. Be a real person. If you only talk about your products and services, you’ll start to sound like a robot and your audience will disconnect.
Let your customers in on who you are. Share pictures of your team on Facebook, talk about that funny thing that happened to you on the train, bring people into your community. In truth, nobody is really loyal to a “business”, but they are loyal to the people, the creativity, the innovation, and the passion behind it.
Reason #4: Sometimes it’s about problem solving and patience…
I had a vine this Spring that just WOULD NOT grow. I moved it farther into the sun. I moved it farther into the shade. I gave it more water, less water, water with Miracle Gro. Nothing worked.
Then one day it all of a sudden looked better! And it’s been growing amazingly well ever since.
The same is true with your marketing. Sometimes it takes some adjusting. Sometimes you have to try a few things before your business takes off. And it does take patience (more patience than I have some days, I’ll admit).
Your business probably won’t take off overnight (and if it does, please tell me how you did it). But if you do some problem solving, it’s amazing the results you can see in just a little amount of time.
**I know that “be patient” is the most annoying advice on the planet. But, sometimes it’s just the truth. I have to tell my dog every day at about 2:00pm to be patient because his dinnertime isn’t until 3:00pm. And, I annoy him every day. So I don’t mind annoying you too, it’s for your own good.
Reason #5: Talk to others about what works and what doesn’t…
We all have a friend with a green thumb. For me, it’s my mom. I can call her about any flower or shrub and she will give me golden advice. Every Spring when I plant flowers on my patio, I call her from the Lowe’s greenhouse to ask her what I should buy, and she always steers me in the right direction.
She knows what works and what doesn’t. And even if she hasn’t tried it before, she’s a pretty good judge of whether or not it will work.
Marketing is the same way. It’s important to have entrepreneurial friends with experience in marketing and sales. They will be able to tell you what works and what doesn’t. Especially when you’re first starting out, it’s important to surround yourself with people who can help you.
Reason #6: If you don’t add a personal touch, your results will be creepy…
What if there was a “right” way to arrange flowerbeds? And everyone did it the exact same way?
It would be a little freaky (a la Pleasantville).
Gardening just wouldn’t be the same without that personal touch. The reason we love planting flowers is that every patio, garden, and window box looks a little bit different. It’s the beauty and variety that we are drawn to.
Marketing is the same way. If everyone did it the same, it would be creepy and robotic. It would lose all effectiveness. Our audience wants us to be different, they want us to show up as our true selves and contribute to the beauty and variety of the marketplace.
There’s an intense pressure to be like everyone else, to put out the same products and services, to advertise the same, to speak about the same issues. But, what people really want is for you to be yourself and give them a taste of something new and fresh.
Reason #7: When you do it well, you can sit back and enjoy the beautiful rewards…
Great marketing is like a beautiful flower garden (sigh…). When you do it right, you have a lot to enjoy.
When you show up every day, and take care of your business, you will enjoy the steady stream of customers (and steady dollar bills into your bank account). And as an entrepreneur, that’s a sweet place to be.
Sometimes marketing gets a bad rap, but it deserves love too. And the best part is, when you show it love and attention, it pays you back tenfold.
Share in the comments, how are you showing your business some TLC? Any tips or advice? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Photo Credit: John French
