Little Purse in a Big Purse Concept: Fitting Marketing into Your Business

Over the holidays my Dad took me shopping (how sweet is that?) The Coach Outlet was having an amazing sale and I couldn’t resist a cute little green purse. Rewind a minute. I’ve been carrying a sac. You know one of those bags that has its own zip code and when you go to find something a la Mary Poppins. The damn thing is a bottomless pit and anything you want is in it, but it is always that tiny nail file that falls straight to the bottom. Ladies, you know what I’m talk about, that bag. So when I came across this little green number I made the decision to go back to a little purse.

Marketing’s role in your business

You see I’ve been here before with the little bag and always end up finding some cute (and big) bag that is super trendy and I can’t resist. And the dump process starts all over again. But I splurged and got the cute little green bag. My Daddy loved it and talked me into getting it because as he put it, ‘it’s so you.’ Sweet Dad.

Guess what?

There is nothing I need that I can’t fit in that little purse. But now I find myself putting my little purse in a big purse (it’s easier for some of those things you don’t need all the time). Let me make the connection here – marketing is the little purse and your business is the big purse.

Marketing has to fit into your business. It's the little purse in a big purse concept. They have to work together. Click to Tweet

3 Little Purse Strategies to Get Your Big Purse Noticed

Marketing is hard. It is ever changing and you are constantly shifting with it and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work and how to get to your people. It’s a full time job. I know. I have made a career out of it. The key to it is that you have to consistently be above the status quo. No one ever remembers status quo. Here are 3 of our marketing strategies that we use to get your business noticed:

• Create marketing messages about your process: Believe it or not, people want to know how you do it. I do. I don’t need to know all your dirty little secrets but I want the gist of how your business works. I want to know that we might be in the same boat and you have the same successes and struggles that I do. Some of my best and most engaged posts have been when I let people behind the scenes of my business. So why not take those everyday systems and processes and show them to people. Whether that be in blog posts, videos or throwing an open-house party (we love parties, any excuse to open a bottle of champagne, invite us, we’ll come, we’re fun, I promise). Ahem, Champagne Thursday at B&A. Behind the scenes.
• Showcase your people: The magic behind any business is the people. So show them off. This one has benefits 2 fold – You get to use it for marketing and your employees feel special. Score! There are so many stories behind your people. Tell their stories and get your customers interested. Then tell your customers stories. Human beings are interesting!
• Less really is more: Clichéd, I know (FYI, I love clichés apparently). But here’s a true (I’ll promise I’ll make it short) story for you to chew on. One of our clients is Verve Media Photo + Video (shameless plug for our client who does all of our photos and is awesome!) and last summer we spent a lot of time and energy in preparing for the Charleston Bridal Show.  We talked about it until we were ‘blue in the face’ on every platform possible and were tired of talking about it. The day of the show went great but the follow up didn’t go so well. Not one single inquiry. We were all burned out and kinda stopped ‘marketing’ for a bit. Guess what happens 4 months later? Lots of inquires. Nothing that we can directly relate to the show but as soon as we stopped talking so much things started to happen. So sometimes less is more and you just need to bring it back to the basics and concentrate on those.

Like my new little green purse in my big purse, marketing is a small piece of the puzzle yet so, so important. But don’t reinvent the wheel with it. Go to the outlets and buy a snazzy little clutch and it fit in with what you already have.

If marketing is your little purse, how does it fit into your big purse? Is it a square peg in a round hole (ha, another one)? Give us some new ideas in the comments below; what marketing strategies do you have to get your business noticed?