It’s one of the hardest things you ever do.
No, not starting a business, not even coming up with a business idea, or even developing the product. Whilst challenging aspects, they don’t compare to what I’m talking about.
The hardest thing you will do in your business is marketing.
Promotion.
Social media.
Advertising.
PR.
Everything involved in getting your business to your customer.
I didn’t train in marketing or undertake any formal education when I realised it was a challenging skill I needed in my arsenal. Marketing threatens every part of my knowledge, confidence and skill base.
Marketing is a beast. It’s not only the cogs that keep your business running; marketing is the entire machine. It’s the fuel and switch that takes your business from being an idea to making money.
When I start thinking about marketing and start working through marketing ideas, the sweat starts. I feel my heart begin to pound. I feel my body unable to concentrate on anything else.
I’m avoiding it with my fight or flight response, activating both simultaneously. It’s like riding a rollercoaster when you fear great heights and the feeling of falling, all at the same time.
I’m thinking back to all the times I failed with my marketing; I relieve the trauma, almost like I have PTSD about it.
As silly as it sounds, there’s real trauma in marketing.
Marketing my website design business, the first business I opened, didn’t come naturally to me.
Though I knew what marketing looked like from the outside. I knew what a social media post was. I didn’t know what it meant for me. Or how to make it happen for my business.
I harboured this genuine fear of the unknown. How did I go from having an idea to putting it into the marketing formats I could need?
Sure, some of the fear dissipated once I learned techniques to get my business some of the…
