Sales and marketing. Other than having an amazing product I believe that they are the MOST important parts of a successful business  – and from successfully running The Healthy Mummy business for 8 years I know this first hand.

But so often I know business owners don’t want to spend money on sales and marketing as it eats into the bottom line.

I totally understand this as when you own your business every dollar counts.

BUT if you think like this and continue to think like this, then this is the sure fire way to run your business into the ground.

I will freely admit that I am a sales person through and through.

At 7 years old I was the neighbourhood handygirl doing car cleaning, gardening, house cleaning, knitting, cake making for $1 a pop and I had quite a good little gig going on for many years which I used to advertise on cardboard on my street corner – and I have worked non stop from that age!

I believe in working hard. I believe in creating amazing products. I believe in delivering an amazing product and I believe in marketing and sales as without it no one will know about what you offer – it is as simple as that.

However – it can be expensive – but if you do it right it is soooo worth it.

I believe that every business owner or sales person needs to think about the product or service they have in one way.

And that is, “Is what I am offering fulfilling a want or need of someone else”.

If the answer is yes, then the next question is, “how can I let that person know that I have a solution to their want or need”.

The hard part is trying to reach that person in a genuine and meaningful way.

There are just as many fake advertising messages out there as there are news stories and consumers are overwhelmed with the myriad of sales messages getting blasted at them at a rate never seen before. Advertising messages have by and large become wall paper.

So the question is, how do you get cut through?

The Healthy Mummy business has been going for 8 years and since day 1 we have spent approx 10-15% of turnover on sales and marketing. We have never done TV (other than a few informercials) and instead employed the below methods to cut through the clutter in the market.

11 tips for sales and marketing success

1. Place the customer as number 1 and build everything around them. The customer is all that matters. Listen to them. Worship them. Talk to them. Make products for them
2. Create a solid word of mouth campaign where you reward the customer for letting their friends know about the product
3. Do social media well. Make social media your own. Don’t copy other people. Share authentic content from your business that your customers relate to and can engage with.
4. Facebook was built to connect friends – don’t fill newsfeed with boring corporate looking ads – make social fit into the customers newsfeed and complement it and ENGAGE with your customer.
5. See advertising as letting your customer know about an amazing offer or new product you have- and make the creative stand out. Don’t make it look like a shouting ad that makes everyone want to turn away.
6. If you are using Facebook or Google ads make sure you optimise them for your demographic and their preferences then scale them when they convert and try new ones if they don’t
7. Keep testing different creative and copy if advertising doesn’t work
8. Try new tools which are coming out all the time and don’t be afraid to fail or lose money – as sometimes this will happen but sometimes the gains will be amazing
9. Invest in new technology. It may seem scary but it is always worth it
10. Always look to future-proof your business – ask yourself today what trends are starting to happen now and the effect this will have in the next 24 months – then plan for it today.
11. Never give up. Always look for another path. There is always another path. You just need to find it.

Follow Rhian on instagram at @rhianbusyallen