As New England gets an other foot of snow added to the winter totals, I found myself torn between shoveling now or waiting for later when the storm is done.  Then it occurred to me!  Shoveling snow is pretty similar to marketing your services.  How?  Let me tell you…

• It is far easier to shovel snow & market your services in small steps. When faced with 12 inches of snow, it is a daunting task to uncover a full driveway in one outing.  Much the same with marketing.  If you try to do all your marketing in one marathon swoop, you will easily fatigue and not finish the task. It is far better to break up large tasks into smaller, more manageable activities and spread them out over regular intervals.
• Use leverage.  In other words, it is better to lift with your knees instead of straining your back. When lifting anything (wet snow qualifies for sure), it is important to lift with your knees and support the vulnerable areas of your back from overuse.  When you are marketing your services, it is effective to leverage lots of different marketing tools to build your brand visibility across your target markets. By using multiple tools to push content out to the marketplace, you aren’t over exposing yourself to any one audience. Try using social media, email, relationship building activities, speaking engagements and more to get the most for your content development efforts.
• Use layers.  When going outside into the cold to shovel, it’s best to dress in layers.  That way, you can shed layers as your body heats up.  The same concept applies to marketing your services. Use layers of content as planned touch points with your targets. Use multiple methods of external communication to spread the word about your services and release the appropriate layers of content to the marketplace over a period of time.
• Use quality tools.  Trying to shovel with a gardening spade would be miserable.  So would marketing your services without allocated resources.  Plan your marketing approach and arm yourself with appropriate resources and tools to gain visibility.  This doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money, it just means you need the right tool for the right job.
• Outsource the job.  If you don’t want to shovel, or can’t shovel, it makes sense to hire someone who can do the job for you. Perhaps you have the resources to hire someone who has experience with a snowplow or snowblower.  Marketing your services isn’t always difficult, but it does take dedicated time and experience to accomplish it successfully. The option to outsource components of your marketing plan to someone who does it all the time is an important decision.  Hiring a qualified professional to get the job done efficiently and effectively for you can help free up your time for other kinds of business development, such as building interpersonal relationships.  (Sorry for the plug here, but I recommend hiring me for marketing, NOT for shoveling!)

These are just a few of the similarities between shoveling snow and marketing. I hope you enjoyed the comparison on this snowy day!