What did you expect running a successful business to look like?
Maybe you thought it'd be a little bit like "Field Of Dreams"—if you build it, they will cooooommmme. So you built it. But then ... no one came. At least, not at first.
So you hustled and fought and clawed your way to success by telling anyone who would listen about your business. You got noticed.
But now you've got a problem. Maybe even a BIG problem. See, the scrappy marketing tactics you used to get noticed and build your initial base of clients and customers isn't working like it used to. While your existing customers love you and send you more business, the approach is wildly unpredictable. And it doesn't scale.
One month, word-of-mouth referrals are up.
The next month they're down.
You never really know.
You've hit a wall.
Top it off with a marketing budget spent on the latest flashy set of tactics and — yeah — you've got a problem.
You know your business is better than the competition. You know you've got something great. But it probably feels like no amount of marketing "best practices" helps you rise above the crowd and get noticed.
So the cycle continues...