The power of focus in marketing your business

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of puppy-sitting for my parents’ new Sproodle (yes, it’s a real breed) puppy, Benji. I might be biased, but I think he’s a pretty smart little dog. He’s also really good at hanging on to his toys – and our shoes – for dear life. That is, until he hears the sound of the treats container being opened. The second he hears the “Click, click” of the container, Benji promptly forgets what he was doing, drops his toy and focuses his energy on being a Good Boy so he can get all of the treats.

I don’t know about you, but some days in business, I feel like a puppy too.

The latest shiny object distracts me and sends me off on a tangent. When I come back to reality, I can’t remember what on earth I was doing in the first place.

I’m also quite fond of treats and walks, but that’s a whole different story.

Focus, intention, consistency. These words have become business buzzwords in the last few years. But, how can you actually define your intention, find your focus and become consistent?

I sure as hell can’t help you find a general business or life focus – that would be a serious case of “do as I say and not as I do” – but I can certainly give you a few pointers on how to get focused, intentional and consistent with your marketing.

Let me break it down for you…

 

 

1. Focusing on your goals

There is a LOT of fun business-related stuff we can pass our time doing. I can’t be the only one who has gone down the Pinterest rabbit hole, only to surface 4 days later.

There are also a lot of not-so-fun business things to do.

It’s very easy to busy ourselves with these tasks, allowing ourselves to get distracted by the “ping!” of our inbox or the latest Instagram notification. But, do these things bring you any closer to your goals?

To spell it out for you: Everything you do in your business either brings you closer to your long-term vision or leads you further away from it.

By (a) knowing what your goals are, and (b) focusing on them, you can steer your business in the right direction and spend your time working smarter.

When a fun, new, marketing tactic pops up, all you have to do is ask yourself this: is it bringing me closer to where I want to be? Or, is my time and energy better spent elsewhere?

2. Focusing on your audience

The spray and pray approach is great fun… If you have oodles of time to spare and don’t really care about growing your business quickly.

The 3-second version? Don’t try to be everything to everyone.

Selling anything, be it a product or a service, is an emotional game – but it’s really hard to appeal to the emotions of everybody out there, all at once. You need to know who your audience is before you can truly resonate with them.

What makes them tick? What are their dreams? What makes them want to hide under the bed?

Writing a blog post with one ideal customer in mind is a lot easier than trying to write for five different people at the same time. Sure, you might have a couple of different ideal clients, but focus on one main one and you’ll find things start to flow more easily.

3. Focusing on your content

If you’re writing about kombucha one week and then dishing out business tips the next, your audience will be as confused as Benji is when I pretend to throw the tennis ball.

What do you want to be known for? What does your ideal customer or client want to read about?

Mapping out a couple of core topics can help you get really focused on your content. It helps to be a little strategic here, too. Say, for example, I wanted to get more social media marketing clients. I would make sure that I’m consistently publishing valuable content about social media marketing.

This concept applies to all of your channels, but social media is a slight exception, as you might also share different content – like a behind-the-scenes snap from your Friday team drinks.

4. Focusing on consistency

“Consistency is the true foundation of trust.” – Roy T. Bennett.

If your audience doesn’t trust you, they sure as hell aren’t buying from you.

What do I mean by consistency? Consistency means being present on the channels you say you’ll be present on and not being on Instagram one day, Youtube the next and then blogging the next. It means committing to send an email newsletter to your list every fortnight – and actually sticking to it. It means keeping to the same core content topics, so your audience knows what to expect from you. It means conveying the same look and feel across all your different touchpoints.

Think about how you can add some consistency to your marketing efforts.

Maybe you need to schedule your social media content a week or two in advance, so you don’t forget about it. Maybe you need to plan your content topics ahead of time, to make sure they fit together nicely. Maybe you need to invest in a graphic designer to make sure your brand looks slick from top to toe.

The bottom line?

If you start to get intentional about the way you’re marketing your business, focus on the things that matter and do it consistently, you’re far more likely to see results. It’s just a matter of trusting the process.