Objectives drive tactics

I follow a friend of a friend on Facebook who runs a personal health business that is more like a hobby.

She seems to change what she offers every few months, focussing on something new and raving about how good it is.

She’s also inconsistent with where she promotes her services: sometimes she’s very active on Facebook, sometimes Twitter, sometimes LinkedIn.

The result is that it’s hard to get a grasp on exactly what she does, why I would seek her out, and where I should connect.

To take her business from a hobby to something more professional (or even just to be more successful with her hobby business, if that’s what she prefers) she must be consistent.

Choose the places that are right for your message and your audience, and stick with them. If you want to experiment with something new, do that around the edges once you’ve built a reputation for your core offering.

Your base channels are defined by your business objectives, not by “next shiny object” syndrome.

For example, a bed and breakfast can use Facebook for engagement and customer service, TripAdvisor for reputation management and promotion, and a website for bookings.

These become the core pillars of their marketing funnel.

Then down the track they could add in Pinterest or Instagram to show their fabulous photos, or an advertising campaign to drive traffic to the website. These build on the base channels that they’ve already built up, meaning customer experience is consistent and staff know the right way to interact.

In this way they can take advantage of new opportunities while maintaining a comfortingly solid base.

What do the most important pieces of your marketing funnel look like?