“You grow most in your areas of greatest strength. It sounds odd, but you will improve the most, be the most creative, be the most inquisitive, and bounce back the fastest in those areas where you have already shown some natural advantage over everyone else—your strengths.” - Marcus Buckingham
Here’s a little something that you might not know about me. I hate math. In fact, I really, really hate math. And, not only do I hate math, but I’m horrible at it as well.
I’m one of those moms you hear about that can only help her kids with their math homework through 4th grade. After that, they’re on their own.
So, it’s pretty obvious that I didn’t become a robotics engineer.
My small business, Shoestring Marketing, revolves around my strengths.
And, it’s no different when we talk about marketing our small business. Obviously, it makes sense to hone in on our marketing strengths and eliminate our marketing weaknesses in order to create huge marketing breakthroughs in our small business.
The Million Dollar Question
So, what exactly is a “marketing strength?”
It seems like an obviously simple question to answer. And for a long time I simply thought that a “strength” was anything that we are good at.
But Marcus Buckingham,“strength-specialist” states that:
A strength is “an activity that makes you feel strong.” It is an activity where the doing of it invigorates you. Before you do it, you find yourself instinctively looking forward to it. While you are doing it you don’t struggle to concentrate, but instead you become so immersed that time speeds up and you lose yourself in the present moment. And after you are finished doing it, you feel authentic, connected to the best parts of who you really are.”
Here’s My Example
There was a time in my life when I was desperately in need of money. So, I took a job where I had to make cold calls for hours every day.
I was actually good at it. In fact, if I do say so myself, I was VERY good at it.
I could connect with the prospects; focus on their needs and close the sale. All within 30 minutes flat.
But, here’s the real truth. I hated every minute of it.
I hated talking on the phone, detested closing sales, and disliked aggressively pushing my products like an infamous “used-car” saleswoman.
As a result, no matter how much “money” I made, I was exhausted, frustrated and uninspired. I hated getting up in the morning and going to work. And, believe me, that’s a pretty rough way to build a successful small business.
Marcus Buckingham would be the first in line to tell me that cold calling is not my strength, even though I’m pretty darn good at it.
So, What Next?
One day, I just quit that cold-calling job and founded a small business based on my real strength…writing.
Sure, I’m good at writing. But, more importantly, I LOVE writing. It energizes me, invigorates me and gets my creative juices flowing.
Not only is writing a big part of my overall small business, I’ve discovered that writing can be a substantial part of my marketing plan as well.
Focus on Your Marketing Strengths
Why not bring your strengths into your marketing as well?
When you focus on your marketing strengths, you’re engaging in marketing activities that invigorate you and fuel the energy to keep you going.
There are only five marketing “strengths” for you to draw upon:
1) Writing
2) Speaking
3) Video creation
4) Online networking
5) Offline networking
Which of these five marketing activities appeal to you?
Does writing get you all razzed up? Write blog posts, articles, ebooks, special reports and press releases.
Or perhaps you get a kick out of speaking? Create teleseminars, webinars, podcasts and audio classes.
Do you get your energy from creating videos? Shoot videos of yourself, turn your Powerpoints into video and create video TV shows.
Does online networking get your juices flowing? Master Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and GooglePlus.
Maybe there’s nothing in the world like meeting people face-to-face. Sign-up for Meet-ups, networking affairs and live events.
No one can “do-it-all” when it comes to marketing your small business. It’s impossible.
So, imagine, for a moment that you eliminated the marketing activities that drag you down and only engaged in the marketing activities that pump you up.
How would THAT change your small business marketing efforts?
About Jessica Swanson
