The Struggle With Marketing in Small Business with Mark Havenner

Brought to you by Salim Omar and the Talk About Small Business Success podcast. He interviews special guest Mark Havenner on the topic of Marketing Leadership.

Who is Mark Havenner?

Mark Havenner is a marketing and communication strategist with over 20 years of experience in developing communication vehicles and message strategies for various clients. He started off in retail marketing before joining an integrated marketing and PR firm where he worked for 15 years and rose to be an executive leader. He has worked with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Havenner recently started his own practice where he focuses on corporate communication strategies for a small group of niche clients.

Mark Havenner can be reached on havenner.com.

Advice For Small Business Owners When It Comes To Marketing

"Small businesses often struggle with marketing due to the high costs involved, which can lead them to invest in expensive PR and marketing firms. However, there are strategies that small businesses can implement on their own to align their marketing and communication strategies with their business goals," says Havenner.



According to Havenner, when the strategies are aligned with a purpose, they become more effective and easier to implement.

"Businesses must identify their purpose or endgame, and reverse engineer their tactics to support that purpose. By having a clear purpose, businesses can develop a unique positioning and draw in customers without having to compete solely on the basis of marketing budgets," he advises.

Staying True To Your Purpose- Advice for Small Businesses

"To stay true to their purpose, a business owner needs to identify the specific problem their business solves and why it's important to their customers. They need to understand what their customers want and what's in their way of getting it. They should focus on how they can fix the problem for their customers, and ensure that all their marketing and communication strategies align with their purpose," says Havenner.

According to Havenner, good branding agencies and companies are effective at doing this, but small businesses often struggle because they're just trying to make ends meet. 



"By being aligned around a purpose, a business can succeed by picking the right corner to stand on, saying the right thing to customers, and knowing why and what their customers want," says Havenner.

Purpose- A Unique Value Proposition

According to Havenner, having a unique value proposition is important for businesses, but it's even more important to have a purpose or a problem that the business is trying to solve.



"Many businesses are too inwardly focused on increasing their profits or market share, but if they shift their focus externally and identify a problem in their industry that they can solve, they can create a meaningful value proposition that others care about," he says.

Havenner says that by understanding what problem their product or service is solving, businesses can align their marketing and communication efforts around that purpose and become more effective. 

"Ultimately, customers care about the problem that a business is solving, not just the features and benefits of their product or service," he advises.

How Can a Business Owner Get Closer to Finding Their Purpose?

"To get closer to finding their purpose, a business owner should ask themselves some hard questions about why they are doing what they're doing. They should also ask why from the point of view of the people they are serving," says Havenner.

According to him, this exercise can help identify the problem they are trying to solve and align their marketing communications around that.

"When a business owner is in the trenches and dealing with various business issues, they should go back to their purpose by looking at what they are doing every day. They can use a process such as M I A (move, integrate, or automate) to evaluate tasks and determine whether they serve their purpose or not. If a task doesn't serve their purpose, they should find a way to delegate it to someone else. The more they can get off their desk, the more they can focus on their customer and the problem they are trying to solve," says Havenner.



By creating systems and processes, businesses can ensure that they are running efficiently, and are focusing on the tasks that align with their purpose.

Free Up Your Time To Focus On Purpose

Havenner's advice to business owners who are stuck in the 'technician' role is to trust their people.

"Many owners are reluctant to hand over control of their business, but if they don't allow their people to make mistakes and grow, then they will always be stuck in the same place," he says.

Havenner emphasizes that owners should be okay with a certain amount of failure in their organization and be willing to give their team the freedom to make decisions and take actions without having to check with them every step of the way.



"By trusting their people, owners can free themselves up to focus on the purpose of their business and its outward focus on serving the needs of their clients," says Havenner.

Closing Statement

Straight Talk about Small Business Success podcast is brought to you by Salim Omar, CPA. Straight Talk CPAs is a firm which provides individuals with tax return preparation and tax planning. If you are a business, we have a unique approach when providing Virtual CFO, Accounting services, and Tax Planning and Tax Preparation services. Contact us today.

Mark Havenner

Mark Havenner is a marketing and communication strategist who has over 20 years of experience in the industry.