Does your business NEED to be using every online marketing channel?

During a recent speaking engagement to CEOs and business owners of small businesses many had this feeling like they have to be everywhere — Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, AI, Google Ads, email, Marketing Automation — and I’m so glad they brought this up.

So, does your business NEED to be using every online channel? My answer: No.

The key, however, is to

(1) realize that you are not running a fortune 500 company. You don’t need lots of people, you just need the right people. The people you’re uniquely qualified to serve, with a very specific need or problem, and a message to solve that problem in a very specific way.

(2) As a small business with limited resources of time, energy, money, and attention, it’s way better to be talked about in these online channels than to be yelling in these online channels. What I mean is that you’re better off investing your resources in developing and delivering a service worth talking about than running generic ads everywhere.

Now I do recommend you claim your profile in these online channels.