Whether it’s kicking it up a notch or moving from 6- to 7-figures, there are a few simple, yet compelling steps you should be taking to level up.
Successfully taking your business to the next level is the sum of small steps.
You’ve got to be making something worth talking about. Usually, that means that you’re incredibly passionate about what you’re making. Some local businesses who really hit the mark with this come to mind including Black Brook Organic Farm, and Streamwalker Nets.
Black Brook Organic Farm is a family farm run by Kendra and Paul Porter who grow unique heirloom varieties of produce. They pride themselves on helping people eat more good, local foods, and they just ooze passion for what they do. They work directly with local restaurants, sell at local farmers markets and even serve meals from their own food truck.
Streamwalker Nets was born out of a real estate agent’s side project to make tough, lightweight, and exquisitely handcrafted landing nets. As a fly fisherman himself, Leif Mermagen built something he wanted to love to use himself. Then he started making some more and selling them. And a company was born.
What’s the story behind what you’re doing? It’s not easy to tell your own story. It’s especially tough to tell it succinctly. And it’s even more difficult to tell it in a linear way when growth is rarely a straight path. But with a great product, and a great story about how you started making what you’re making, you can start to build a loyalty in your customer base.
And they’ll create other loyal customers. And so on, and so on.
We work with a real estate agent named Harlan Furbush who gets more than 90% of his business from referrals. As a former client of Harlan’s, I can tell you that’s because he’s REALLY good at what he does and he shows gratitude ten times over to his past clients for working with him by delivering pumpkins in October, champagne to celebrate the new year, and sending cards and useful flyers throughout the year.
So here’s the key take-away on leveling up – if you have a great product (I mean really great) that people fall in love with, if you can communicate your brand story effectively and if you have passion for what you’re doing, then the marketing, advertising, sales, etc. are the easy part.
Those aspects of your business – your marketing mix – are what take you to the next level.
We work with clients to connect them with the right market of potential customers who are moved by your story and love your product. You’re not telling the story of why your customer should buy from you. You’re telling the story of the outcome your customer experiences when they use your product. And that shift is some next-level stuff.
The vehicles for your story may resonate best with social media marketing, or you may need a new brand identity to really connect. You may need a powerful digital and print campaign or a combination of various elements to get there. No matter what, it takes passion. It takes grit. It takes work.
Are you ready to level-up? Let’s get to work.