Are you struggling with FOMOMO? Yes, I mean: fear of missing out on marketing opportunities!
Yes, it's a real thing! I know there are always a million possible ways to drive more traffic to your website, and increase revenue! And it's so easy to get distracted by new ideas (that are the latest and greatest, are working for so and so, and just seem to be the answer to all your problems). But then, you drop your latest marketing strategy to chase this new idea and at the end of the day, you keep doing this and never actually make any of the ideas you are currently working on, well - actually work!
So what is the right way for you to do this? The truth is the answer is very simple, but not at all easy! So let's really break it down! My suggested steps here:
- Watch my video
- Grab your spreadsheet
- Read through the blog
- Get to work
OK - ON TO THE PLAN:
Step 1: Brain Dump
Type out every single marketing idea that you have ever thought of or heard of!
Yep. No idea is too small, big, crazy, silly, or scary here! Write them all down! If nothing else, this is going to be a great opportunity for you to see just how many ideas there are and understand that you couldn't possibly try these all at once (unless you truly half-a** them all, in which case, you results will follow suit).
And this might be something that you wouldn't even call a strategy but consider how it might be, some examples:
- Referral Program
- Influencer Marketing
- Paid Facebook Ads
- Organic Facebook Group (yes, Paid Facebook Ads vs. Organic Facebook Group should not just fall under 'Facebook' - these are two totally separate strategies and need to be treated as such).
- Making Returns Ridiculously Simple (yes, it's a strategy, I explain how this is a strategy in my video)!
- Adding a plus-size department to your boutique (yep, this is also a strategy, and the issue is that if you DON'T treat it like one, then you can't be surprised when it doesn't work out, because there is more to a strategy than just ordering the clothes and putting them on the shelves or website).
Step 2: Prioritize
Now that you have everything down on your list, choose only THREE to focus on this quarter.
Yes only 3, and even that is a lot, because you are going to give these 3 absolutely EVERYTHING you got, girl! Go ahead and break down your next 5 picks, and your 5 after that too. Just so you have a roadmap for yourself of what you will work on next quarter (or beyond)! This may help you put that FOMOMO to rest. You are not saying no to any marketing idea, but you are saying 'right now, I'm focusing on THIS, I will work on that next when I can do it justice.'
Step 3: Strategize
Ok - it's been easy so far! Now we are diving in to the tough stuff. I said you would go all in on these top 3 picks? Well when I say all in, you can bet yo mama and grandmama that I ain't messing around!
So what does ALL IN look like? It means you are going to need to make it your new job to learn the ins and outs of this particular marketing option and create a whole strategy for how you want this to work for you, how to implement, how to measure, how to optimize. Here are some questions to consider to help you with this for all three of those strategies you've picked:
So what does ALL IN look like? It means you are going to need to make it your new job to learn the ins and outs of this particular marketing option and create a whole strategy for how you want this to work for you, how to implement, how to measure, how to optimize. Here are some questions to consider to help you with this for all three of those strategies you've picked:
- What is your first and foremost primary goal with this strategy? And you may think it is always going to be revenue, right? But not always the case. It could be customer retention, increased cart order values, etc. Really consider why you are doing this!
- What is/are your secondary goals with this strategy? While you may have one primary goal - what else do you hope to gain out of this (best to keep these short and sweet, measurable/quantifiable sort of goals).
- Now for some research! Can you list out TEN things that you will need to do to be successful with this strategy? If you don't know, and even if you do actually, now is the time to SCOUR your resources! The Boutique Hub, Google, YouTube, Facebook Groups, Your Boutique Bestie who is killing it with this strategy herself, etc. Now - you may find some conflicting advice, don't fret! My advice is to check out for what is most current (ideally information that has been published/posted within the last 3 months), reputable (who is sharing this, are they a trusted source, do you see proof of credibility), and lastly know that there are likely more than a few ways to attack this particular marketing option - you need to learn all you can and then piece together your own strategy to the best of your ability. Don't freeze here. Just do the best you can after research, and move on to the next step!
- Finally how (and how often) are you going to measure results, so you can also work on making improvements to the way you are attacking this strategy (to make it work even better for you)? If your goal is higher cart totals. Then note down your current average, set a specific goal to reach, and decide how often you will check for progress on this. Say you check monthly, have these details on a spreadsheet or a document of some sort and see how things go after one month, and then take a look at how you are doing things to see what's working and what's not and make adjustments. For some strategies, you need to be checking daily and adjusting quickly (like paid FB ads, for example). But figuring out how you are going to measure success has to be part of your overall strategy!
Step 4: Implement
Now - time to get your actual action plan together, and just get to werk!
Create an outline, detailing step by step what needs to be done (don't miss a single detail)! Consider the following (and again do this for each of the three strategies you've picked):
Create an outline, detailing step by step what needs to be done (don't miss a single detail)! Consider the following (and again do this for each of the three strategies you've picked):
- Any initial setup steps involved (this could be like signing up for a pinterest account, creating a content plan, setting up your boards, designing board covers, creating some post templates to use for your content to save time, etc., create a tracking spreadsheet where you will track your progress).
- Daily Actions - what are you going to do each day for this strategy?
- Weekly Actions
- Monthly Actions
Bonus Step 5: Optimize
As if all this wasn't a lot already - there is another step to consider! And that's basically making sure you are constantly improving upon your strategy based on what is working and what's not.
This sounds simple enough right? But it can feel complicated for sure, here are some things to consider:
This sounds simple enough right? But it can feel complicated for sure, here are some things to consider:
- At it's simplest optimization means doing more of what works, and less of what doesn't. But this means you have to be solid on measuring your results - so that you know what is actually working and what's not too.
- Also say that you have a list of 10 things you are working on for STRATEGY A, and after a week, you have tracked your results. Ok great. Now what ONE change can you make to your strategy to see if in another week, that helped things or didn't help things? You only want to change ONE thing so you know that THAT one thing was the difference. Say you changed 5 things about how you were implementing this strategy, and things did improve. Well WHICH of those five things made the difference? It will take patience but narrowing things down bit by bit is the way to go to really figure out what to do more of, and what to do less of (or stop wasting your time with altogether).
Anywho - don't be a stranger! Happy Selling!
- Angela
Jillian Kotz
This is such a great post, Angela! Super excited to do this exercise an appreciate your expertise on the topic! Excited to see how we can make our top 3 strategies come to life for Chic Avenue Boutique!