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I'm Finola Howard, Business Growth strategist with a joyful heart, and your host of the your truth shared podcast, I believe that every business has a story to tell, because that's how the market decides whether to buy or not, and your story has to resonate with who you are and with the people you want to serve. And this podcast is about helping you reach the market in a way that feels right to you. So if you're an entrepreneur with a dream you want to make real, then this is the podcast for you, because great marketing.
And in this episode, I share with you the three significant milestones on the entrepreneurial journey that can create exponential growth in your business. Together, they form a clear map that you can follow to create the business you always dreamed of having.
And the reason I'm sharing this with you is that so many people give up before they finish the growth journey. They run out of steam, they run out of belief, or the baggage they're carrying is way too heavy for the journey. And lastly, they don't have the map that will help them pace themselves for the journey. So today, let's talk about that map. And I always say, if someone's been there before, there's got to be a map. This is my assumption around most aspects of growth, you got to learn from people who've done this before and delivered the results you want to see, and then use their experience as a map to your own growth, because maps are key to the speed of your growth. They're specific enough to be useful and yet not so rigid as to be restrictive. And there's always got to be wiggle room for your uniqueness to shine through and your ideas to change the world. Maps in general and growth maps in particular can be viewed through many different lenses, like through marketing, sales, mindset, production, financial systems, people and more. Actually, it's critical that you do look through each of these lenses, because growth is not a siloed endeavor. It has to be nurtured throughout the entire business. Otherwise you'll just hit walls that will block you before you even get started. And those blocks can be like self limiting beliefs. It could be a lack of systems to create efficiencies, maybe management style, maybe financial resources, something that might prohibit innovation in the business, like culture and so many other blocks that could happen. And for the purposes of this episode, we'll look at growth through the marketing lens, even though you'll see that lens has an actual impact on every other part of the business. But today, our focus is on the marketing lens. And the reason that we start there is that most people leave the marketing to last because it's easier to focus on upskilling or improving how you produce something or do the things that are natural for you to do in in your area of expertise, rather than in the areas of sales and marketing, and marketing as a concept is just so loaded in people's minds that they often leave it to last, and then everything becomes quite desperate. And we never want to get desperate, because it's not a space where good decisions are made. So let's move forward. The reality here is that marketing is the key to making your business dream real and to hitting the growth levels you want to be truly successful. So let's make this marketing map, or this lens for your growth really simple and simple for you to remember. So I just want you to remember three key letters that symbolize three key words, and that's P, E, V, which is positioning engine and visibility, okay, and each of them, think of each of them as a milestone on your growth journey, okay, so milestone one on that journey to exponential growth is P, position for growth, okay, and that's the unique space in the market that you can call your own, one that is commercially viable, feels right to you and gives you a crystal clear understanding of what your business growth strategy is. The clarity that comes with positioning is the greatest asset to your growth strategy. You have got to crack that before you move on to the next stage in your map. And we dig deep into this topic in Episode 49 so check that one out, and I'll leave a link in the show notes for you. Okay, so let's move to Milestone Two on our journey. Okay, and that's e, which is build your engine. So E for engine, and this is where you've nailed your positioning. You know exactly why you're different and why that matters to your customers, and now it's time to build the engine that drives your revenue and your business growth. This is where you'll take your deep insights into customers and map them directly to your business. You will map every stage of their journey, from pain right through to your solution as the answer to their pain, and then you'll build your business around that map.
So I want you to also remember that every business and industry is very different. Okay, customers can become aware of you buy referral at networks or looking in your shop window, maybe meeting you at a trade show or at a conference and so many other different ways. Okay, but one thing that's become consistent across all industries is that somewhere along the way they will look to your website. There is always a digital footprint on the buyer journey, and your growth strategy has got to tap into that. So when we talk about engine, I mean your digital engine, okay? And to be clear, for it to work best, that engine has got to be plugged into the rest of the business. So again, no silos here, please. Okay, so remember when we talked about the tendency for people to resist marketing and digital marketing, that's not just solopreneurs. That actually happens with nearly every department in larger organizations. Could be sales, production, finance, HR, they all resist it, but they're all touched by it, and you can't forget that. And also I want you to remember that when every department is plugged into the digital engine, everyone benefits. Everything becomes more seamless, becomes more scalable, and there's greater ease in that journey. Okay, now every engine is different because every business is different, but there are some common components in that engine that every business needs to get right. And this is what I want to break down for you here, and I've captioned it really clearly in a 10 steps to building your marketing engine. Step one is always the customer journey. Map the journey that they take to solve their pain, every step that they go through in the process, what they search for, how they try it out, how they reference it, how they make sure that they're making the right decisions. The whole journey, not the journey you want them to take, the journey they're already taking. And then the step two, then is all about aligning how they search for the answer to their pain with how you solve their pain. So we need that match. And by this, I mean your sales and marketing funnel. See episode 88 for the ultimate funnel template. Have a listen to that one. It'll make this really clear. Let's move back to our 10 steps. The next step, which is step three, is about building a website map that facilitates that journey. Okay, it's got to be easy for them to find the answers they need with you, nobody else with you. So we need to map that out and see very clearly how they'll navigate through your website, and are you presenting them with the answers at the right time in your website? Okay, next you've got to write website copy that reflects their language your customers language and cultivates conversion that takes them on that journey to solving that pain for them and SEO, which is search engine optimization, is really, really important here. Okay, now we're at the point where you've got your website ready for them. Fantastic. So and you're really happy that it's robustly matching the journey, and it really takes them on a very clear journey. The next step they want, we want you to do is to add something to that website well that will give them a taste of what it's like to work with you, buy from you, just to get a sense, which is a low or no cost taster of what it's like to engage with you. And this is where we add lead magnets or smaller offers, tiny offers, so they can build trust with you. Okay, Step six is where you nurture that trust with efficiencies that can be garnered from marketing automation, things like email sequences, automation sequences that make them feel important consistently and that ensure your customers will never get lost in your ecosystem, and also relieves the pressure from you, of always being there all the time, we can make this a lot easier for both of you. Okay. Step seven is about building a value led newsletter that keeps you front of mind and builds an ongoing relationship with your customers. Step eight is all about setting up tools and analytics so you can measure as you go, because all marketing is iterative. You don't ever get it right first time. So it needs to be measured so you can refine and return better results every time. Tweak, refine, measure, tweak, measure, tweak, measure, tweak, and you just get better every single time. Step nine is about setting up a baseline CRM, which is customer. Relationship Management System or a pipeline. Often, these can be done on the web, much easier to integrate with your whole engine, and it's very, very powerful. Means you can capture leads and nurture them through your ecosystem, and this will allow you to maximize conversions and care for your customers in a more organized fashion, okay? Lastly, this is where you identify and model key roles so your engine can run with ease. You can't do it all yourself. So these roles can be internal. They can be outsized, role, outsourced roles. They can be full time, part time, but just find out what works best for you with where you are at right now, but we're still planning for growth, so we need to make sure that the whole business does not live and die by you. We've got to be expansive when we're growing. Okay, so that might seem like a lot, and it probably was a long list of 10 things to think about, but the reality is, it's all doable. You just have to stick to your guns and focus on getting it built. And this is where I see so many entrepreneurs get stuck. Building an engine requires attention to detail and focus and commitment, also, because sometimes it's even a little boring. The reality is it's key to your success, and you'll see that as you progress through each one of those steps, you'll see things becoming more sharper into focus. Things start moving a lot easier. It's critical to your success, okay, so stick with it. It's likely where you gave up before, either because you hadn't a milestone one in place, which was positioning, or perhaps you just ran out of steam, but I think if with a clear map in place, it makes it a little bit easier for you to keep going and make sure that that engine works. Let's move on now to milestone three, which is V for visibility and amplify your visibility. This is where we really move into scaling territory. Real growth requires visibility, but only when you've the engine in place to leverage that visibility. So many people jump to this stage, they create that visibility, and then they've nothing for people to buy from them. So there's no point in driving lots of customers your way if you don't know what to do with them. Okay, so this is also about visibility at a price you're willing to pay, it will be with purpose. It will look and feel like you, and it will add value to your audience and your business. Most of all, your visibility will not steal your energy or be some shotgun exercise of hoping something will finally stick at the wall anymore. This will be strategic results, focused and systematic, so you can enjoy the journey as you go. So let's break this one down. And in this case, I've got nine steps to amplify your visibility. Okay? Step one is about ensuring your visibility strategy is aligned with that first milestone, which is your positioning strategy. Because too often these are out of sync with each other. This is about choosing platforms that you enjoy can be consistent in and in a voice that your customers can recognize. Then you'll create content that is directly in alignment with that sales and marketing funnel we just built, because every piece of content you produce needs to have an objective for you and deliver on a promise to your customers. Step three is all about repurposing that content so that you maximize its reach 10 times over. Step four is about saving time by working clever with AI automations, batching and outsourcing. Step five is about writing copy that builds trust and converts and don't underestimate the value of learning how to tell a story better. Step six is about building campaigns that deliver on your sales goals. It's best to create a calendar that helps you plan ahead no one is time to deepen the relationship and when it's time to make sales, Step seven is about leaning into the analytics and leverage what's working with ads. Measure everything here, the organic, the social, the copy, the creative, every single step in the process. Step eight is about expanding your audience with a media and speaking opportunities. This is truly about amplification now. And lastly again, this is about growing your team again, so you spend more time in your genius zone. And at the end of this process, your visibility will be an integral part of your overall growth strategy. So many initiatives in this space are ad hoc and fragmented, and the greatest synergy happens when everything you say and do works together towards a common goal, and that common goal is the realization of your purpose. Delay. Leverage through the medium of your business growth.
So when we are strategic in the space, there is no dissonance, there is no noise, just a singular, robust message of who you are, what you stand for and what you have to offer the world. Best of all, when you execute on these three milestones on this growth map I'm sharing with you here, you will achieve the exponential growth that your business deserves. So don't forget those three lovely little words, PV, position, engine, visibility, and I've created a free checklist so you can start actioning everything we talked about here today. So make sure to download it. It's your three phased map to exponential business growth, and I'll see you next week.
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I hope you enjoyed that episode, and reach out and let me know your thoughts on this episode and where you are on your business growth journey. Do click on the link in the show notes to access my three phased map to exponential business growth and use it to grow your business. Thank you for listening to your truth shared. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with your entrepreneurial friends and help them grow their business to even greater heights. And until next time,
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let's keep growing. You.