What My Marketing Degree Got Wrong About Small Business
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I have degrees in marketing and international business, so between the two of them, my college years were basically one long case study in how big companies sell things. And while I love marketing and had a great time in my classes, what I learned was built for a company with a legal team, a series of product channels, and a marketing department that has never once spoken directly to a customer.
I didn’t even go into marketing after graduation. I took a sales job, moved teams, moved companies, moved across the country, and eventually landed in copywriting. Somewhere in there, working cross-functionally with a marketing team on sales collateral, I remember thinking I was ‘finally using my degree’ – as if I hadn’t been using in when I was in my sales-only roles.
What I didn’t realize is that I was using my degree, it just didn’t feel like what I learned in school.
If you have ever felt like you are doing marketing ‘wrong’ because it does not match what you read in a textbook, I see you. Here is what I was taught, and what I do instead now that I run my own show.
Product Launches Do Not Need To Take Years
What I learned: Big companies plan launches years in advance. Products move from engineering to marketing and back again, through focus groups and NDAs, before a single sale happens.
What works for small business: A solid product launch timeline can run two to four weeks, especially with the right strategy behind it. Most small businesses are planning their launches less than a year in advance.
Plenty of my VIP day clients come to me three weeks before they want to launch, realizing their sales page is not ready. Their launch may be planned, but their sales collateral isn’t. It’s hard to wear all the hats and do all the launch things in your own business!
The advantage small business owners have is speed.
You Do Not Need A Focus Group To Do Market Research
What I learned: Legitimate research meant behavioral scientists, structured focus groups, and carefully worded questions designed to avoid leading people to an answer.
What works for small business: Give people more chances to give you feedback than you currently do, and treat client interviews as a yearly habit, not a one-time event.
I ran a three-day workshop recently and asked for feedback after every single day. My response rate landed around twenty percent. That is fine. The point is not a perfect response rate.
The point is having a system in place so you are not scrambling for insight later. The most successful entrepreneurs I know either run client interviews themselves or hire someone to do it, at least once a year. It gives you the language your ideal clients use, which makes your copy sound like them instead of like a brochure.
Marketing And Sales Cannot Stay Separate When You Are A Team Of One
What I learned: Marketing generates leads. Sales closes them. The two teams rarely speak to the same person twice.
What works for small business: You wear all the hats. Marketing and content? You. Getting people to schedule a sales call? You. Closing the call? You.
In corporate sales, where my deals often ran $100k+, every lead was scored by marketing and handed off to the sales team.
As a small business owner our funnels look a lot different: you post something free, someone comments, and then you start a sales conversation. The gray area between marketing and sales is just… a lot smaller.
NOTE: if you want a strategic partner to help you write the copy that starts these conversations, that is something I do inside VIP Days.
Constant Feedback Is An Advantage, Not A Distraction
What I learned: Big companies avoid constant feedback loops because they mess with the data.
What works for small business: Ask for feedback everywhere, every time, and use it to move fast.
That feedback tells us what to change in our offers and, just as important, how our clients talk about working with us. That language becomes GOLD for voice of customer research and will meld how our copy sounds later.
Small businesses get to play and experiment in a way big companies are told not to, and that is SUCH an edge!
Key Takeaways
A short product launch timeline is not a shortcut. It can be a smarter strategy than the year-long version.
Market research does not require a lab. It requires consistency and a willingness to ask.
Marketing and sales blur together for solo business owners, and that is normal, not messy.
Feedback loops are one of the biggest advantages you have over a big company. Use them constantly.
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Helpful Resources:
Samantha's email: samantha@nomadcopyagency.com
Forgotten Launch Emails checklist (use code PODCAST to get it for $1!)
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