This is part two of a series on how to figure out what type of marketing your small business needs, focusing on five different dimensions: Demand, Trust, Relationships, Competition, and Sources. If you just subscribed, read last week’s edition here.
Are people already looking for the product or service you’re selling, or do you need to create demand?
Answering this helps identify where to focus your marketing efforts, or, more importantly, where to not spend your limited time and money.
Demand exists on a spectrum, with demand capture on one end, demand creation on the other.
Consider a gas station. It sits on the roadside, waiting for people who need fuel. It’s pure demand capture; a big sign is all the marketing needed.
Locksmiths and windshield repair companies are similar. Unless you're stealing keys or throwing rocks through windows, you're almost entirely trying to capture demand, not create it.
On the other side of the spectrum, you’ve got new and unusual business types, from board game cafes and zero-proof bars, to rage rooms and sensory deprivation float tanks.
When these first came around - by definition - no one was searching for them. Awareness had to be created, and there are still plenty of people who would be interested if they knew about them.
Many businesses land somewhere in the middle, which might require a mix of both efforts, and it can vary by product or service. An HVAC company needs to capture demand for emergencies, but create demand for preventative maintenance.
Thinking about where you fall doesn't tell you exactly what to do, but it can help you confidently deprioritize other things.
If few people are searching for your service, SEO’s not going to make much of a difference. If people only buy when they have a sudden need, social media’s going to have limited impact.
It might sound obvious, but I’ve seen roofers who think they need to post daily on Instagram, and professional organizers writing blog posts purely to boost search rankings.
It’s not that these things are totally worthless - it’s that your business demands you focus elsewhere.
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