"You Don't Even Know Who I Am" - Patty Loveless

That's a great marketing story title isn't it? One of my favorite sayings is "You can make the best widget in the world, but if no one you make it, or who you are, it's not going to do you much good." Am I right? Especially in this day and age with the Internet, there are so many people doing similar things, and some with larger pockets that can spend more money, or have more business training, or more "guts" to get out there and sell. Us little guys get the short end of the stick and people don't even know who we are. 

So, you're saying "give me a break. It's all I can do to get the product or service together. You want me to price it, to market it AND sell it. I think my putting my stuff out there on Facebook should be enough. Isn't it?"

Facebook is a good start, but it's so much more than that. I spend hours (ok you Facebook marketing gurus, cover your ears here). I spend hours commenting on other peoples' pages, liking and sharing other events and programs, finding articles that have meaning for my followers -- all so that my relationships will grow and people will learn to trust me and to think of ME when they need something I offer. And then, I write articles for LinkedIn, and for StumbleUpon. I share on Quora, and Tumblr. That's JUST the social media.

Then, there are articles and ads in my monthly magazine, Small Biz Forward. Flyers in the weekly Chamber of Commerce newsletter, and the live, "in-your-face" networking that needs to be done as well. Wow, when is there time to actually do the work? The time for the work is when the phone starts ringing, the emails start adding up and and people stop you in the street and say, "Hey, your program sounds great. Where do I sign up?". 

This is just part of the cycle of running a successful business. Don't get me started on Who's your ideal customer? Why would they want what you offer? What goals do you have for 5 years -- have you even thought about next month? There are so many things to think about that your head could easily spin off your shoulders. But one step at a time. What are you going to do to change that old country music song, They Don't Even Know Who I am?