The Business Millennials Podcast

Growth Marketing for Small Businesses [Part 2]

• Ashley Dreager & Safa Harris • Season 1 • Episode 2

Share episode

This episode of The Business Millennials podcast with co-hosts Safa and Ashley is part two of a three-part series on growth marketing. They discuss the difference between growth marketing and maintenance marketing. They explain that growth marketing focuses on sustainably expanding a business to achieve long-term goals, while maintenance marketing aims to preserve the status quo. The hosts emphasize the importance of first identifying your "why" and business vision before ramping up marketing efforts. They also stress laying the operational foundation including systems, processes and capacity to handle increased demand. Jumping into growth marketing too fast without these pieces in place can actually damage quality, satisfaction and sustainability.

Key Topics:

  • 1:11 Laying the Groundwork for Growth
  • 12:04 Dangers of Putting Marketing Before Operations
  • 17:57 Pushing through the Growing Pains
  • 23:25 Strategies for Sustainable Business Growth

Episode link & contact info

Shareable Episode link
Email: scaleandthriveco@gmail.com 
Follow us on Instagram:           
          @ashleydreager           
          @itssafaharris
Work with Us

Is your business just not the vibe right now and you can't seem to get it going, even though you feel like you're doing #AllTheThings? Fill out the linked audit form to give us the inside scoop on your current situation, challenges, and goals. That way we can spot your strengths, opportunities, and outline next steps, keeping a sustainable & scalable business in mind.

Free Audit:
https://scaleandthriveco.com/strategy-assessment/

Episode link & contact info

Shareable Podcast link
Leave Us a Voice Note
Email: scaleandthriveco@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram:
@ashleydreager
@itssafaharris
Check out the Shop

Welcome to the Business Millennials podcast. This show brings you strategic insights through raw and unfiltered, real-world advice to accelerate your business growth. For long-term success, I'm Safa Harris. And I'm Ashley Drager. We are the founders of Scale and Thrive Co. Of Full-service marketing and business development firm. Helping visionary companies scale sustainably expect us to have the uncomfortable conversations that no one else is having. We'll break down what it really takes to grow and scale your business beyond six. Seven or even eight figures, as well as inspiring interviews with diverse leaders across marketing, product development, sales, and more via fly on the wall as we conduct strategy sessions with business owners, experiencing issues such as plateaued income, burnout, and generally dropping the ball, giving you the tools and resources to break through your own roadblocks, but also personal development methods to grow you as a balanced conscious leader amidst business growth. Let's jump into this week's episode. All right. Welcome back to the business millennials podcast. This is part two of our series on growth marketing. So without further ado, we will jump right in.

Ashley:

So what is, what would you say would be the first step or the first thing that they need to have in place if they wanted to go into this growth marketing stage or if they wanted to expand their revenue streams?

Safa:

Well, kind of going back to what I said, figuring out, what they are trying to get towards and then finding that thing that they need to make that happen. So say that it's I just want to scale up what I have. I'm really good at designing websites. And I am ready to scale that up exponentially. It's okay, great. Do you have, a repeatable framework? Is that written out? Can it be replicated? Do you have a system and process there? That is your intellectual property. Figuring out what your intellectual property is, putting it into writing, and then that's what you're selling, actually. And that's a whole nother episode of, you're scaling your IP. Right, and how that's what you're selling because it's removing yourself from it because you're like, oh, well everybody only wants to work with me. No, they want to work with your intellectual property. They don't care what it is. They want to work with that framework taking that framework and then Developing the training for bringing in team members to do it. What structures on tools and operations are needed to be able to deliver this product? How can it be exponentially replicated? Creating that system, so it's really no matter what it is, it's going to be figuring out how to create that system of whatever you're producing. So. That was a web design example. Say that it's a restaurant with a new location. Okay, well, what, what's our UVP? What's our unique value proposition? What makes our restaurant experience the restaurant experience? Okay, well, how do we achieve that? What is, Our intellectual property there. What's our framework? Okay, let's get that into writing. Let's create that system. So it's replicable. And then you go build that new location. You have that system, you have that process and you go take it and you build it somewhere else.

Ashley:

So you don't have to be the 1 to do it. I think that's a key factor, because if you still have to be the one to carry it out or be involved or oversee or manage, there's a breakdown somewhere earlier on in that system, process, documentation, et cetera, because it's not scalable when it's tied to you and your

Safa:

capacity. Correct. You have to take it out of your brain. You have to take it out of your skill set and put it into a way that it is someone else can consume it, understand it, and then go do it. It's really the first thing you got to do is, build a training program really in no matter what it is. So it say if it's. Fit the product. Okay. Yeah. I know what my product is and I want to create a sister product, right? With it. Okay. So what makes my product a part of my brand? What makes this initial product a part of my brand? This brand, how does it fit? How does it align with my audience? Are we going into a new market? Whatever it may be but there's still got to be that one thread that connects it to your overall brand, right? So figuring out what that special piece is creating a process to develop another product that where it all fits together and then bringing that To market because then again, that's another framework. That's another system. That's another process that keeps it all connected to your brand. So that's really in all these are vastly different industries, but the common thread and theme here is system product IP. What connects it all together and taking that information and then applying it to a different location, a different team member, a different product to then develop from that wide core framework into intellectual piece of property, Connection to your brand and you and all of that kind of stuff and then expanding from there and making it replicable so other people can understand and do the same thing. So you created that product, you went and got another one. You're like, Hey, this is my brand. I'm trying to target another audience, but I want to make sure that this 1 element of my brand is still in there. You create it, whatever, and then you have someone else that comes in as your product. Development manager, whatever. And they're like, okay, yeah, this is the one thread. This is how we go and vet out products. This is what we make sure is in the element. Da da da da da. Then they go and take it and do it, and it all stays cohesive. And even when it's okay, well, I just wanna ramp up the volume of this one product I have. Okay. Well, what makes the delivery of that product unique? What's important in the customer experience? What is that core process, that framework that's important to our brand? Then you're like, okay, well, I'm going to look for a manufacturer that has these elements, this checklist of what makes my business, my business, finding a manufacturer that can handle more volume with that element there. And the same with distribution, let's find a warehouse that can handle all of those things that aligns back with that brand. So it's going to be that your company's, your business main framework and system and process. And to tie that into

Ashley:

marketing, even though in marketing, we may not be creating content or putting all of those details customer facing your marketing team or your marketing manager still needs to understand all of those ins and outs because that's going to affect the direction that the content. Is taken that's going to affect the overall marketing strategy, the content strategy, the positioning of the content. It's all tied together and it's all background information that affects what will be taken. Or what will be given to your consumers to your audience. So it is not something that you want to be overlooking. I know that answering that question of what is your unique value proposition or what differentiates this product or service or brand can feel like a very Ambiguous. Is that the, is that the term? Like, abstract maybe? Yeah, abstract is probably better. Term, but it is really what's going to make your brand and business sustainable for long term growth through all of those phases and really to connect with. That target market.

Safa:

Yeah. To bring it back to what you said earlier, Oh, you need to have your vision and your why, and all of that is not, it's a real business best practice. It's not just something. And cause it's not because it really should be driving everything you're doing in your business and your vision and your why doesn't have to be all Oh, well. This in life and this is what it doesn't have to be that it's not that serious. It's literally, I know this is a good business model. this is going to be the thing that makes me money. This is how it's going to grow. And this is what I'm envisioning. that's your vision. It doesn't have to be Oh, I'm going to Create all these locations of these things and have this huge impact and I'm going to be the next Jeff Bezos and I'm going to use my billion dollars to world and world hunger, it doesn't have to, be your soul. And it doesn't have to be your soul. Why, sometimes your business is just a means to an end and a vehicle to do things, but you still have to have some kind of Vision there of what you want it to be. And for some people, it's smaller. Sometimes it's yeah, I just want the nicer cheese at the grocery store than the off brand. And for some people, it's bigger. It's yeah, no, I'm gonna, I don't know, make sure my kids can go to private school, and I'm not going into debt over it. All of those things, Of why you're doing your business. Yeah. But how is the business actually going to do that? what does the business need to look for all of those things? Whatever they may be to happen. And just having that future cast of what's potentially an option for the business and do you actually want that? And then just remembering to come back to that all the time. And. That why you're going to infuse it into your marketing. You're going to infuse that into all of these elements of it. So you have to have that because that is going to feed and develop your brand. That is what's going to feed and develop your framework of how you operate. My why in my business is going to be okay, well, this is how I deliver things to my customer because of this. Why because that is my goal. That is my vision of how this business works and how things happen and work and all of those kinds of things. So everything comes back to that. So it's a lot more serious than just this is my vision for the future, right? And it's a lot bigger than that. So kind of a question to you when. What negative impacts have you seen or things not work out the way a business owner wants when they're investing into marketing when they don't either have these business structures figured out or if they don't have this clear why for their brand or their business? Oh,

Ashley:

so many examples. Where do I start? Where do I start? I think the first one that I'll say is that when these. It just leaves your marketing in a place of, okay, so what do you want to do? What do you want me to talk about? What do you want me to be working towards? I mean, there's a million different things that you can be doing with your marketing. And with all, if none of that stuff is figured out, it's just ineffective. And it just. Leaves more questions unanswered, which means that no progress is going to be made. And so the flip side of that is that marketing is very much project management on a row, consistent rotational basis, whether you're talking about content creation or launches or whatever the case, whatever type of marketing you're doing, it's constantly being project managed start to finish and. Project management needs systems and processes to manage it because otherwise due dates are going to fall apart. People aren't going to know what their responsibility is. Nobody's going to be on the same page. Nothing's going to be consistent. It's just, it's a disaster. I can't sugarcoat it. It's the worst when there aren't, when the operational backend of a business is not functioning well, or it is not built out, your marketing is going to be a direct reflection of that. Yeah. So

Safa:

what we see a lot is that business owners will be like, I'm going to invest in marketing. I'm having cashflow issues. I'm having my, I'm not making the money I need to make my, I need to do more marketing. Is that the right answer? No, absolutely not. And as

Ashley:

a director of marketing, it, it makes my life so much harder. When people come to, they look at marketing as the magic pill because it's not. Marketing takes so long to see those significant tangible results like money and revenue, right? Ultimately, it's not usually A marketing specific issue. Rather, there's another issue with within the operational aspect of a business. The product suite isn't developed out. Well, the intellectual property isn't developed out. Well, there's not a repeatable framework. There are. Client delivery or client management issues, right? I can bring people to you, but it's on you to make the rest of it happen to make that magic happen to make them want to come back and to make them want to refer you out. Right? So it's a, it is a lot more reassuring when. Clients come to us and they have this really significant success based on word of mouth and referrals, because that means that that is going really well, we just need to tell more people about it. But if there aren't a significant amount of referrals or word of mouth already bringing you to that level of success, we're kind of, we're having to build it all out at the same time, which is fine.

Safa:

Which, to add to that, if you have significant amount of referrals and word of mouth and it's working really well, but you are doing all of it and holding it together, and you're super burnt out, that means there's also an operational problem there. That is true. That Because then that's not scalable. That is very true. Not

Ashley:

scalable, but there is an aspect of that foundation that we can easily build upon, right? I mean, you can come in and build out those SOPs, identify that framework, and put it It'd be like one strategy call of just like talking it through you and then we

Safa:

have your replicable framework and your IP written out. But,

Ashley:

like, if you, like I said, if, if your business hasn't gotten to multiple six figures, multiple seven figures based on referrals or word of mouth, you, it's not that you've done anything wrong or that your business can't be successful, but just know that we need to. Build both that side of your business out and the front end marketing for your top of funnel, top of awareness area at the same time, which is something that is going to take time for you to see those tangible results. It's going to take a lot of information from you. You're going to need to be very invested in that process. And I think that that's something that a lot of clients don't realize until they're knee deep. In that investment and it's kind of like an oh, crap moment of I was already spending a lot of time. I didn't have a ton of extra capacity and now they're asking me all of these questions. Now what?

Safa:

How do I do this? And that kind of brings us back to the difference between growth marketing and traditional marketing. So they come in and want that maintenance marketing that you were talking about because they're like, Oh, that's all I need. I just need this to what's taking up my capacity in the marketing and keeping it churning out and stuff like that. We're like, yeah, Actually, there's bigger problems in the foundation here in the operations of the business, this is going to take a lot more work to achieve that. Why? And that goal that you want. So let's, let's do this work, this really, really hard time consuming work. First, so we can give you the, that rapid sustainable expansion through that marketing efforts. And then once all that's built, we can move more into maintenance where it's kind of self sustaining and a bit self sustaining through your marketing department, obviously, not just Things are just happening on their own, which that would be great, but you know what I mean? Yeah. But where it's a little bit more self sustaining and you can step back and all of those things, so, everybody thinks they need more of that maintenance marketing, and some people might. It might be like, hey, all of this stuff is working, it's great,, I just don't want my capacity taken up by my marketing anymore. I don't want that's not where I want to be spending my time. I'm cool with everything how it is I just want to keep status quo That's where maintenance marketing goes up. But if you're like I want more I want different that's going to start with the foundation and the operations of your business and then it's going to move into that Larger scale marketing that's going to bring in more and working together. So that's really the key differences Between the two and identifying Am I trying to just maintain or am I trying to do more and then knowing if you are asking for more that is going to take more until we can get to status quo. And it's going to take more and not just your marketing. It's going to take more in your operations and your systems and just the foundations of your business because. One, the marketing team needs to know that foundational information they need to understand your framework, your delivery, your brand, to be able to market you authentically, and then what's going to happen with with all those leads with all that money coming in there, it needs to be able to deliver as well. So, if you're looking for more, you're looking for more work until we are able to build all of that out and do that and ramp it up. But if you're looking to just sustain, then that is So I know

Ashley:

that this could probably start to sound very overwhelming and daunting and impossible, but I just want to say that this is something that any business is going to go through if they want to grow or scale beyond the point that they're at, right? There is a thing called growing pains within a business. And I know anyone that's in the online space doesn't necessarily see that all the time from the accounts that say, Oh, I went from 150, 000 a year to a million within 12 months. I'm not saying that they didn't do that, but it's not as easy as it was portrayed. There was a lot that had to go on on the back end to make that kind of growth happen, which is fine. It's not forever. You will get through it. We just want you to be prepared for it because I don't think that business owners are as prepared as they should be to make it, I don't know, would you say an enjoyable experience or just a less frustrating experience?

Safa:

So I think what happens in the online space and it's like to make. whatever this online person is trying to sell sound more appealing be like, Oh, you're like, it's the pain point marketing. It's like, Oh, you're in pain. Let me take that pain away from you to solve whatever your problem is. But sometimes you have to go through that pain to get what you want. And I think a lot of People are like, I'm working in my business. This is not uncomfortable. This is uncomfortable. This doesn't feel good. I'm working all the time. I am unhappy in this moment and feeling this pressure. I'm seeing online that this person is telling me my business isn't supposed to feel painful. It's supposed to be unicorns and rainbows and butterflies all the time. Obviously I'm doing something wrong and we're here to tell you know, it's going to be painful. It's going to be hard and it's okay. We're gonna get through it. We got this. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and don't make some make marketing online make you feel like you're doing something wrong and that you're not good at what you're doing or something. Isn't the way it's supposed to be everybody goes through it. It is business is painful only in that you're trying. You have to work through the pain to the get to the other side. It won't it's not always going to be bad. It's not always going to be painful, but if you're trying to achieve a goal, the only way through it is through it. You can't start around it. You're not going to be able to get around it. And if that's something you want great and if you Don't? that is also fine, but then you're just going to be in maintenance and status quo. It's really about what you want. Absolutely.

Ashley:

And to add to that, you have to follow through. Don't get two months into the foundations of your growth marketing and putting all of these pieces into place and then bail on the plan because that's, it's just not going to get you where you want, because like you said, you're going to have to, you have to go through it to get to the other side. Right. So starting it, doing most of the work and then saying. Actually, I just really don't have the capacity. I don't want to do this anymore. You're just going to have to start back over again the next time that you want to pursue this. You pursued it the first time for a reason. You know, make sure that you are going to

Safa:

see it through. Yeah, because I think there's two reasons for that. One is instant gratification. we want it to, work out immediately. And it's like, I've been working so hard for two months. Why is it not, happening? two months is nothing. Two months is nothing in business. to make big, huge things happen. It takes years. It can take years, it can take months, but it can take years to really see the impact. And that's where it's one, getting out of the need for instant gratification. And the messaging online is not helping. It's not helping with that. It's not. Oh my gosh.

Ashley:

Total rant episode for another

Safa:

time. And on that, it's like, okay, instant gratification isn't going to happen. I need to cultivate resilience. How do I stick through the path and do all of that? And avoid the shiny object syndrome that is like, Oh, if you do this, the little whispers in your ears, Oh, it's easier to do it this way, instead of doing it the hard way that you can just get this quick, fast win. No, that's a cash injection. That's not a sustainable business. Like, of cult of not listening to those voices, not letting that shiny object system come in. That's holding you towards instant gratification instead of working towards and going towards was longer term resilience and sticking to the path through that and cultivating your resilience to get through it. Because this is the long haul. This is the long haul. If you want it, you're going to have to cultivate that resilience and stick to it. And I'm sorry. But if you want that. The, the, this is the reality of it. And if you're listening to this and be like, Oh, I really don't want that. that's okay. Good. But it has to be your desire to want more has to be more than your desire to not work through the pain. And experience the discomfort. Exactly. And the sacrifice. Yes. Major sacrifice.

Ashley:

But there are two things. That can really, that can mitigate the amount of energy and frustration and maybe overwhelm that would come with this growth marketing phase. And those two tips that I have, I'm curious if you have anything else that you would really want to drive home. But. Working on the foundations in your business now, like your SOPs, like any sort of documentation, like your project management tool, don't overlook those. I know that it's so easy to overlook when you are a one person team, you have a very small team, right? You, a VA, a social media manager, et cetera. Don't overlook that area, but also make sure that you're hiring the right person to get you through growth marketing. The right team, I should say. Because it's more than just one person that is going to be needed, but making sure that that's the right fit, those two things I think are going to mitigate a lot of the discomfort that we've been talking about.

Safa:

Yeah, so like I mentioned before, that's kind of part of the first step is setting up that framework and figuring all of that out and putting it into writing and putting it into processes and creating it into a system first. So even If you know what your why and your vision is long term, you can start doing that foundational work when it is like now before you're trying to do it all at the same time. That has to happen first. So when even when you're hiring. sometimes, don't hire out of desperation. Sometimes we get to a point, we push off hiring, push off hiring, push off hiring. And then you're in a place where I just need to hire someone to do X, but you haven't sat there and built out what the future of your business is going to look like. So you are just hiring someone that works now. But it's not someone that can grow and move with your business or that's going to fit a need your future business is going to have really sitting down and creating that org chart of what I need to hire when you're looking to hire someone, when you're looking, ideally, you would hire a VA that's going to move into being your OBM. Your D. O. O. Your C. O. O. rule. that would be ideal. they grow with you, and they really understand the essence of your business. But if you're just going, I just need someone to check my e mails. And you just, fire whoever. okay, great. You're eventually going to have to fire them. That's kind of sucks, but it's because you're going to hit that wall. So the same thing, yeah, you're going to build out your SOPs. You're going to build out your project management stuff, even though it might feel not important now, but if you have a larger vision of what you're trying to do, know that that's going to be really important to have in place. And if you have the space now, or there's just one thing you're trying to work on instead of working on 10, it's going to be easier to do it. Now. Before you're trying to do it all at the same time and then the same thing with hiring, higher thinking about the future growth of your business, having a strategic hiring plan and higher with that. So you have those people ready for when you are ready when you are in this growth marketing phase of where that marketing is coming in and doing all that those foundations and that built up of that business is there to take. To take that off, so that's really so, kind of what you said when you said, oh, there's 2 things. I was like, oh, it's going to be strategy and management, but that's essentially what it is, right? Doing every, having a system strategy and operation strategy, having a hiring strategy on organizational development strategy do because that's. I think this leads great into our next episode of strategy and management is strategy really brings in the long term bigger outlook of okay, this is where we're at. This is our goal. This is how we're going to get there. And then management is bringing, putting all those pieces in and making sure it gets executed. And so if you are in a place where I know I need that growth right now, I'm just kind of turning and doing all that, it's okay, well, what's my goal, my strategy for my goal here? What all, what are all the Different strategic pieces that I need to make that happen. Build up your systems and operations strategy, and then manage it into implementation. Have that one piece of your foundation done. Next is operational, organizational development, hiring, strategy. What does my, what will my team and my organization need to look like in the future, three years, five years from now, if I'm thinking about hiring, okay, how does that like, my one year plan. Of this five year growth chart. How does that work? Financial strategy. I know I'm going to need this kind of cash. I don't know if the market's going to dip. How am I planning my sales? How am I planning my budget? How am I planning my cash reserves to do that? To have that cash to do the growth? Because it's going to take, you're going to need a marketing budget. are you going to have that to be able to get to the next iteration? I think that's what a lot of people forget that you're going to have to spend some money on your marketing in this growth. If you really want it to take that way, you need to be smart with the finances there, because it's not going to be I spend 1 marketing. I come back 1. No, you're going to spend upfront. You're going to put that investment in of 50, 000. And then. That 50, 000 might eventually be 1, 000, 000, but it's gonna take some time for that return to come back because it, is that, are you financially planning well to get there? So it's all of those, like, each department of your business needs a strategy that fits into your larger business strategy to build that foundation, which you're building through. Management and then you're executing to get it there and you can start working on those now. So then when you do feel okay, my money is there, my capacity is there. I'm ready, mindset wise to get there to do the work. the market is ready to accept whatever new. Initiative I'm trying to launch and then moving into it half of the thing that makes all of that hard already done because you were really had a long term strategy to get there and you're slowly chipping away about it. The continuous improvement, the continuous iteration, and just doing it piecemeal by piecemeal instead of being like, well, my backups against a wall. I want to increase revenue. let's do this all now. that's going to be a lot more painful than if you. Made a five year plan, a three year plan, and started doing it incrementally. Yeah,

Ashley:

absolutely, because we can come, we can make it happen. We can absolutely make it happen from whatever stage your business is in, whatever foundations and systems you have. But know that To get to what you're wanting, we still need to do all of that work. So it's really a matter of, are you going to be doing that work now, slowly chipping away at it, like you said, and over time, so that when you are ready to put that investment in to launch that new product or service, open that new location, We're not building your foundations to grow, we're jumping in to grow.

Safa:

Yeah, and I think there's three ways you can make that happen. You can chip away at it slowly, do it yourself over time. That's going to be the most, it's going to be time investment on your part as far as how much time it takes for that to happen and your own personal, that's your sweat equity going into it. Another way is going to be like. Do it really fast, but pay a lot of money to make it happen. That's with us. You want it really fast and you want it done quickly. That's going to be working in the agency. Yeah. And the third way is Your sweat equity in a condensed amount of time and that's going to be really, really, really painful and then it's going to put a lot of pressure on you and it's that's the hardest way to do it. If you say, hey, I'm going to work with them and they're going to just really ramp this up real quick, but I don't have the full funds to. Put towards the full gambit, so I'm going to put my sweat equity into it. That is going to be yeah, we can do it, but you better be prepared. Cause that's in the tears of most painful to like least painful, that's the most painful way to do it. Cause it's not as much help as far as manpower and number of hands and expertise and things like that. And you're just muscling your way through it. While also trying to expand at the same time. It's doable, but You have other options that are better.

All right. So we are going to end to part two here. Make sure you come back next week to hear the final episode, part three of our series on growth marketing. See you next week. And that wraps up another episode of the Business Millennials podcast. We hope you found this conversation, thought provoking, inspirational, and helps you make a larger impact with your business. Growth is not just about profits or revenue. It's a journey of personal development, contribution, and bettering ourselves in society. Our challenge for you. Take at least one key lesson from our time together today that you can apply not just to your business. But your relationships, creative expression, well-being and personal evolution too. We appreciate you tuning in. If you enjoyed this show, we invite you to pay it forward. Share it with an entrepreneur, creative student or community leader who needs an infusion of insight or inspiration right now. And make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you never miss a single episode. And if you like what you heard, leave us a five-star review. See you next week.