I think every solo business owner has been there. Marketed themselves so hard that now they have too much work to do that keeping up with marketing feels impossible.
But if they don’t keep up with the marketing, then three months from now when they’ve wrapped up all of these clients or projects they’re going to be in real trouble.
And yet, it still feels like the non-essential tasks that they can cut from the ever-growing to-do list.
Sound familiar?
This was the topic of conversation on today’s Flourish group support call and I addressed it, by introducing the Marketing Sandwich.
IYKYK. And if you’re new here, allow me to break it down for you.
When it comes to marketing, how much is enough depends on many different factors – from the type of business model that you run to the stage or phase of business that you’re in.
Your capacity and the resources that you have available to you (of which time is but one) are also going to influence how much marketing is enough.
This is one of the many reasons why I believe that The Funnel (dun, dun, dun) isn’t actually the most helpful way to visualize your marketing.
Because when you look at a diagram like this:
It’s easy to assume that how much effort or how many tactics that go in to each layer should be equal.
Or that once you nail a strategy or plan, it’s going to stay the same forever and ever until you retire.
That’s just not true, however, because how much marketing is enough marketing really, truly depends which is why, I think about marketing more like a sandwich:
The Marketing Sandwich
Inside your sandwich you have all the layers of a traditional marketing funnel, but how much you put in to each layer is going to depend on your business model, your immediate and long term goals, the type of marketing you’re doing, how you make sales, the resources you have available, and so on and so forth.
The yummy little snack pictured up above is a pretty good representation of my marketing right now – less than a week out from launching the fall cohort of the Decelerator I’m out here firing on all cylinders.
Updating the sales page, coordinating affiliate partners, posting on Threads, scheduling my launch emails, clearing my calendar for discovery calls…
Meanwhile, my client who’s in a busy season delivering excellent work for their own clients and is booked out until the holidays arrive?
They don’t need the full triple decker club sandwich with all the fixings and a bag of chips on the side.
Their sandwich might look a little more like this:
In our house, we call this a peanut butter suitcase
By definition, it’s still a sandwich. But it’s just enough to tide you over until you’ve got the time, energy and appetite for a full meal.
So how do you know when your business needs all of the marketing or simply the minimum effective dose?
Well, that’s exactly the work that we do in the Decelerator, babe. And I’ll be sharing more about that next when registration opens on Tuesday, September 29.
In the meantime, hit me back with your favourite sandwich. Mine is jambon beurre and that butter had better be THICK.
Cheers,
Amanda Laird Growth Marketing Strategist
PS: Different seasons in your business call for different amounts of marketing. Are you in a club sandwich or a peanut butter suitcase phase?