The Dance of the Marketer
How to master the steps to keep yourself in the groove
The entrepreneur, small business owner, or start up extraordinaire, all have one thing in common, they are being pulled five ways ’til Sunday and only have two hands to manage all the needs of their business. Even if there’s a team of two or three people carrying out all of the business operations, like finances, marketing, product innovation, and networking, its a dance to make it all happen. Every startup or small business needs to know the steps of this dance.
Failure to do so results in, but is not limited to tripping over your own feet, standing still awkwardly in a circle of peers, or the worst case, busting a move that hasn’t been around since the 80’s (running man, I am looking at you).
The Fat:
Step 1: Prioritize
Prioritization is a pain for those who have limited teams and time. In order to prioritize your business pain points, identify which areas of management are restricting business growth. Often times, this inhibitor of growth is something you’ve talked about addressing, but “haven’t got to yet.” That’s where the next steps come into play.
Step 2: Delegation
It is easy to define delegation as a way to tell people what to do. However, the most powerful delegation is done by assigning leaders for each area of which there is a need. The team members you delegate tasks to should be strong in the area you give them. When there’s a misalignment between strengths and tasks, delegation goes sour.
Check out this podcast on delegation by the folks at Entreleadership for more info on this step.
Step 3: Scheduling
Okay, you have your top priorities identified and you’ve delegated. I see that leg’s shakin’.
Now let’s say you’re making a big design change to your product. Meet at the office at 9:00 with Curly and just tackle that priority for two hours as a team. Do not beat yourself up if you do not get it done in one fatal swoop. Simply schedule another time to hammer it out again to prevent burn out.
Now you can schedule in the other important things, like helping Moe plan next week’s Twitter posts, or assist finance-guru Larry budget for next month, before its too late to get those projects done, too. Furthermore, constraining your time through scheduling allows for the final and most important step of the startup dance.
Step 4: Get Into the Groove
The best dancers don’t have to think about their next step. They are in a groove and moving with the music. This groove is crucial to working effectively and consistently.
Now you know what is will be working on, you’ve delegated project leads to someone who is strong in their area, and you have scheduled a jam-session.
Time to make it happen.
Seriously, just bust a move, and you will soon get into the groove of the ongoing startup dance, like this guy.
Need help with the steps of the marketing dance, and how we can help you conquer it? Contact the Mountain Valley Marketing team and we will get you moving and grooving with a FREE marketing audit, all you have to do is ask.
