The First Step for Your Business' Success with Digital Marketing

Never forget that social media platforms are simply tools. They cannot substitute for knowing your business' purpose (or your business' "why"), promise or story.

To identify your business' purpose, 

try to remember why you started your business — the emotional reason. Express that idea as a sentence. Once you have identified your business' purpose, your customers and employees will be able to get on the same page. Indeed, customers and employees will be able to self-identify themselves, making both relationships easier to manage if you, as the business' leader, understand clearly your business' purpose.

To identify your business' promise — 

i.e. what you are promising your customers — use this format, "We do {what} for {whom}." Your customers will expect you to honor your promise. Understanding what you are promising and to which prospective customers will help you focus your marketing.

Lastly, what is your business' story? 

To paraphrase Ryan Williams, author of the Influencer Economy:

• "Why should people care about you?" — your "Hook" story
• "What problem did you overcome that shows that you are excellent at what you do?" — (your "Badass" story)
• "How do you make your money today?" — your "Call-to-action" story

Keep your stories limited to a few sentences each so that you can use these stories for any interviews you do. Indeed, if you can reduce these three short paragraphs to one word each, you will have a great slogan for your business.

What I have just described is the difficult part. Once you understand your business' purpose, its promise and its story, you can clearly explain them to your customers and your employees. Then, you can start to create your army of go-getters ready to change the world following your vision. Developing a digital marketing strategy once you have completed these steps is relatively easy.

Banks and law firms are notoriously poor at understanding their business' purpose, promise or story, so in understanding them, as a banker or a lawyer, you are way ahead of your competitors. Why not get started today?