{"id":84577,"date":"2022-11-20T11:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T15:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=84577"},"modified":"2022-11-30T15:46:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T19:46:18","slug":"how-to-market-your-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-market-your-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Market Your Small Business: Sahil Lavingia’s 3 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s the key to marketing your small business? How can you boost sales for your business?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing for a small business can be difficult because of a limited budget and minimal resources. However, Sahil Lavingia’s book The Minimalist Entrepreneur<\/em> says you don’t need much to start advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how to market your small business, according to Lavingia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Launch and Market<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you have your infrastructure set up, you\u2019re ready to go. Lavingia says at this point you\u2019ll launch and begin to market simultaneously. Below we’ll look at how to market your small business effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He advises against paid advertising because it\u2019s too expensive and too broadly targeted for a minimalist business. He says you don\u2019t need to spend any<\/em> money on marketing <\/strong>(Shortform note: Although much contemporary marketing advice suggests moving away from traditional paid advertisement, the US Small Business Administration<\/a> says it can still be quite effective. They say in surveys, people indicate a much higher level of trust for TV, print, and radio ads, over online ones. So, if you do decide to pay for marketing, traditional advertisements may be the most effective route). You can do it all yourself because you\u2019ve already established yourself with your target audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also advises against having a launch party just yet. Instead, start by \u201ccold calling\u201d to educate people on your services, then begin more widespread social media marketing<\/a>, then<\/em> have your launch party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Spread the Word<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lavingia recognizes that most people, especially creative types, hate doing sales and marketing. So he advises thinking of sales as \u201ceducation\u201d about your product or service. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start spreading the word about your business by reaching out individually to people in your target community, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Connect with experts and influencers.<\/strong> Scour social media to find subject matter experts, such as journalists, bloggers, and influencers who have posted about businesses similar to yours. For example, if you\u2019re creating a photo-editing app, look for people who have YouTube reviews of similar apps, or bloggers who write about photography and photo editing. Make a list of everyone you can find. Message them and offer to show them your product. You may even want to take them out for lunch if they\u2019re local. Ask these people for their feedback and learn from them. Don\u2019t necessarily try to sell them on your product, or ask them for reviews or promotion. Just educate them and show it off. Simply making these connections puts you in a network that can eventually generate referrals and customers. Lavingia did this with hundreds of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Target potential customers in your community.<\/strong> Search your internet communities for people who might be interested in your product and reach out to them individually. Message them and just tell them a little about what you have to offer. For example, Lavingia\u2019s website Gumroad offered a way to sell digital products<\/a> to people. So he scoured the internet looking for people who were selling digital products in a less efficient way, like emailing the product to every customer. He wrote a quick message to each of those people telling them he had created a more efficient way to automate the process of selling digital files and welcoming them to check out his website if interested.  He did this with thousands of people. (Shortform note: This is called \u201ccold messaging.\u201d Tips for successful cold messaging include: Keep your message brief and authentic<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Don\u2019t get discouraged.<\/strong> Most people will ignore you or say no. Don\u2019t take it personally. Remember, this is your passion, so just keep sharing enthusiastically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Lavingia, this will be how you generate sales in the beginning. He advises that you always be authentic<\/a> and open with your customers, creating relationships with them, so they\u2019ll be inspired and feel part of a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Set Up Your Funnel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The next step in marketing will be to set up your \u201cfunnel.\u201d In Lavingia\u2019s model, the funnel is made up of social media at the top and email in the middle, which will funnel your sales to you at the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavingia recommends setting up your funnel as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top of the funnel: social media<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your social media presence will be your farthest-reaching marketing vehicle. Here you\u2019ll want to create content that will be interesting and engaging enough to generate followers. <\/strong>Some advice Lavingia offers for managing your social media content includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n