I help my clients with marketing so, of course, everyone has said to me at some point or another "I need clients!" or "I need to make more sales!" or "I want to make this business sustainable!"
We typically start by talking about what they have done and what's worked. They ramble off a number of things they've tried, from ads and networking to email marketing and social media.
"Nothing has worked!" they say.
But once we start looking into it, it becomes clear that we don't actually know what is working because they haven't tracked anything.
I liken it to going to the gym everyday with the goal of "getting fit" and then just randomly moving from one machine to the next. One day you're running on the treadmill, then next you give dumbbell curls a whirl, and after that you try squats on one of those tricky Bosu balls.
After a month maybe you're getting some results, but not the kind of results you want.
"I've tried everything! Treadmills, weight lifting, plyometrics, and nothing works."
This is usually the point in our gym analogy where a coach would say, "okay, but let's make sure we're focused on the right things and that we're doing them properly. And let's keep track of your progress, just to be sure we can know for sure what's working."
The same goes for your marketing efforts in your business. We have to know a few things up front, like what your goals are, so we can start to take the actions we think will help you meet those goals.
Then we do the some "reps" AND we track them.
As a friend of mine says, "do reps and the results will come. But do reps and track them, and your confidence will go through the roof."
Chances are, you're freaking out half of the time because you don't know what to do to market your business, but you also have no idea what is actually working! Once you start tracking your actions and can connect the dots between your DAILY ACTION and the RESULTS you get, your anxiety all but disappears!
No. More. Guessing!
If I go to the gym and do 10 squats on Monday, and then don't touch them again for a month, I might conclude that squats don't make me stronger... That they're a shitty exercise. But you can probably see how that's not giving us all of the information we need.
Go in and do 4 rounds of 6 squats, 3 times a week for a month and then let's talk about whether or not those squats got you stronger.
See what I mean?
SET A GOAL --> then take CONSISTENT ACTION --> then measure your RESULTS