The ONE THING you need to know to market your small business.

I really hope that this blog is going to make you independent business owners feel a whole lot better.

I'll be honest with you. When I get online and start reading news and information about social media and how to effectively market your business, I get completely overwhelmed. Actually, I get overwhelmed to the point of almost being scared. And I'm in the social media biz.

When people start throwing around words like "strategy" and "campaign" I think "time" and "money"...both of which are hard to come by when you're on your own. You don't have a marketing department. Heck, you might not even have an assistant. I'm hoping that you're not reusing coffee filters, but if you are, I'm not judging.

It's all about budgeting - time AND money.

So, I want you to do me a favor. STOP thinking of social media marketing in terms of strategy because, let's face it... you just don't have time to come up with one. And please just put that whole campaign thing on the back burner. Chances are you're not there.

Yet.

Now that we've thrown out a couple of words, let's add some new ones:

Engagement

Conversation

Awareness

Wait. I'm not done yet.

Friendly

Approachable

Helpful

Resourceful

I have a feeling that the idea of effectively marketing yourself in the digital world is almost paralyzing to some business owners because they think they don't know how to do it. That's because the marketing industry has so scared, throwing out words like "analytics," "SEO," and "Price Per Click" that we don't even know where to start.

So, let's just not market at all.

That's right. Let's stop selling your business and start doing what you do best: helping others. Don't look at digital marketing like this minefield that you can't move through.

Look at it as a conversation.

Yes. Think of a potential customer you talked to today on the phone. Or a friend who had a question about something you specialize in. Have that conversation again...just type it out in a post.

There is no strategy. Or, if you would still prefer to use that word, determine that your "strategy" is that you're going to be as helpful as possible a few days every week. Skip hiring someone to put together custom graphics and analytics for a social media campaign. Don't think six months ahead right now. Your job is to be the friend/resource/whatever that someone is looking for.

And if you haven't started doing that, frankly, you're not ready to work on a big social media campaign anyway. If you have a social media page that has no engagement on it and you're not active...why would you pay money to advertise that???

Once you have your page active and moving, then talk strategy if you want to. And at that point, that strategy or campaign that you're thinking about will probably make more sense to you anyway. As you continue to post and engage with your potential clients, your purpose will become clearer and you'll have a better idea of what they need and what you can provide.

But until then, throw those words out.

And the word "moist." I hate that word.