Small businesses deserve better. Businesses with fewer than 250 employees culmulatively employ the majority of the UK workforce. However, the marketing advice they have access to is woeful, often downright dangerous. I am on a mission to change that.

What are you funding?

If you back this project you will be helping me fund the publication of my business book - Watertight Marketing - and an interactive website packed with tools and downloads for small business owners to use to put an effective marketing operation in place to support long term growth.

Why does the small business world need Watertight Marketing?

If you’re the owner of a small business, this book, the powerful accompanying interactive website and workbook is for you. If you’re a highly ambitious owner of a small business heading towards being a big business, or your goal is to build a business that sells for millions, this book is a must.

It's about moving from yoyo marketing to Watertight Marketing...

More step up than start up. There are lots of resources for starting a business. There aren’t so many about staying in business. And, even fewer that really show you how to step things up.

To get the most from Watertight Marketing, you’ll already be up and running, and making money. You’ll be pretty clear about what you’re selling and to whom. Now, you want to scale it. You want to get better rewards for the effort you put in. You’re at that stage where you need to start ‘doing things properly’ in order to grow.

With marketing, this means you’ve tried a few things. Some will have worked, some will have failed. Often more by luck than judgement. Watertight Marketing will turn that on its head. It will give you the marketing judgement to make sure that you’re always lucky on the sales front.

This book is your shield against the never-ending onslaught of ‘unmissable’ marketing opportunities, designed to protect you against fruitlessly spending vast sums on activities that won’t net a bean in revenue. It equips you to put a powerful marketing operation in place that really delivers for your business. That is, marketing that delivers real sales results. In the long term.

It is often in the marketing or sales guru’s interest to convince you that they are the practitioner of some sort of dark art, and that you need to spend a fortune (with them) to do things properly. Indeed, a quick Internet search on “lead generation” will return a list of potential suppliers suggesting that a business should invest in: telesales ‘guaranteed to secure appointments’; direct mail so targeted that people are practically waiting to give you their money; ‘one time only’ advertising deals; search engine optimisation to secure your position at the top of Google’s listings; social media that can seemingly replace your whole marketing team; online word of mouth that does your selling for you... the list goes on, and on.

Given the flood of advice, it's no surprise that many businesses, large and small, suffer from ‘tactic burn’; that is jumping from one ‘essential’ sales and marketing activity to another, never getting the consistent results that the business so badly needs. It’s the yo-yo dieting of the marketing world, pursued in the hope that one day they will uncover that magic silver bullet.

What you need to know is that there isn't one.

There are three!

Your Bucket, your Funnels and your Taps.

Ok, so what's in the book?

You work hard. So, let’s make sure that you’re getting the very best from every ounce of effort that you, and every member of your team, puts into making your business a success. The best way to do this is to make sure that your business isn’t leaking profit. However tight you think you have it, I’ve yet to encounter a business that couldn’t step it up – by simply plugging the profit leaks.

Part One doesn’t make for easy reading. It maps out leaks in your sales and marketing set-up that squander your precious funds and time. Taking a look how real people really buy things, I expose the Thirteen Touchpoint Leaks, and turn the usual way of tackling them on its head for faster payback. Then, just for added discomfort, you’ll be introduced to the Four Foundation Leaks. These relate to marketing attitude and a company’s internal workings. By the end of this section you’ll have identified your major profit leaks from amongst these seventeen.

Part Two gets you to look at a purchasing decision from the buyer’s perspective, mapping the way that real people really buy things onto the Watertight Marketing framework. It’s an operational model that’s easy to follow and means your marketing will deliver long-term sales results. You’ll know what you need to say, how to say it, and to whom.

Part Three takes the concepts above and shows you how to apply them in practice. It works through fixing the Touchpoint Leaks with case studies and a fully worked example, to equip any small business with what they need to plug the gaps they find. It challenges the picture that a classic sales funnel visual paints in your mind. Just because you can draw a neat funnel, does not mean that there is one. In reality, the buying decision, and the marketing and sales process a business has in place to support it, is much more irregular. Every time you see, or refer to, a sales funnel or sales pipeline, I want you to re-imagine it as:

• Your Taps: Ways of generating interest in your offer.
• Your Funnels: The tools and techniques you use to channel that interest and move people through to trying you out.
• Your Bucket: Those things that come together to keep your customers your customers.

See the full table of contents.

Readers' responses...

I've let a few people see a preview copy of the book. This has been the response...

“This is a breakthrough marketing book for small businesses. It ditches all the fluff and nonsense and gives a business owner exactly what they need to get their marketing in gear. You’ll want to read it with a pen in hand because you will have ideas to put into action on every single page.” Mark Mason, CEO, Mubaloo

“Watertight Marketing is brilliant. Bryony has delivered a book that is free of jargon and a compelling read that makes you sit up and quickly realise where the holes are in your plans, the potential cost of these holes to your business and ultimately how to fill them and ensure your business is robust and successful.” Nick Dean, Managing Director, Ad Lib Recruitment

What's the current state of play?

The book itself is written. It's with a designer being made beautiful! I started talking about it three years ago. I started writing it when I was six months pregnant. I finished it the night before my daughter's first Birthday.

I am working with a cooperative publisher lined up and I've paid the deposit. I've funded the illustration of bespoke cartoons and diagrams, and paid for the services of a professional editor. The book will happen. In fact, it will be available in January.

However, I really want to change things. And, business books get bought... most people even read them, some even go so far as to implement some of the advice found in them. But, it's so easy not to actually put this stuff into practice. This is why I want to make the website a really powerful resource. So much more than just a blog. I have the following features in mind:

• An online audit to help businesses identify their main profit leaks.
• An interactive workbook where people can log and review progress.
• A forum where small business owners can support each other on their journey.
• A directory where small business owners can find reputable marketing consultants.
• A SmartPhone app to access all this information
• And, of course a wealth of great content!

I will make this happen. With your help, it won't just happen, it will be brilliant.

Thank you for taking the time to read this project pitch. I really hope you'll fund me. I really hope you'll be part of a movement that gets our small business community back on its feet!

You can find out more about me on my website, and get a sense of my writing on my blog. You can follow the book's progress on its very own Facebook page.

Credit where credit is due...

© Cartoons by Simon Ellinas, Cartoono.

© Illustrations and Diagrams by Lizzie Everard

© All other content by Bryony Thomas