Ditch the old way of thinking and bring in the new age with these three rules that you should break with your marketing this summer.

Break: DIY, don’t spend the money on an expert.

This seems to break the rules for small and start-up companies. People always over estimate the time they have to do things. We all think that there are more hours in the day and more ways to just Google it and do it yourself. The truth is we all have things that we are experts in and if you really want marketing to open doors for you and make a difference to the growth of your bottom line… hire an expert! Invest in your business development. Five to 15 per cent of your revenue as a business should be spent on marketing. If you aren’t spending that now, start planning for next year and working your way up to this. Break the trend of using Pinterest to hobble together something as important as the future of your business growth.

Break: Always follow best practices.

Switch it up and make your own rules. Everyone feels like they have to do certain things, and sometimes we don’t think about what we want enough. What is a good fit for you and your business? What can you invest time and effort into?Social media is a good example for this. We often ask people for their social media account information for their website and usually the answer is, ‘Well I don’t have anything now, but what are all of the networks I should be on?’ That isn’t something you should make a snap decision about. You have to do something with those accounts, make them into your brand. Just have one link on your website to one place in social media land that you are going to rock; one account that is updated, alive, fun and full of great information for your audience. Break the rule of feeling like you should have two or three social accounts.

 “If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.” -Thomas Jefferson

Break: Have several key messages for your brand.

Marketing is about storytelling, not about the things that you sell. Because of that you need to have a great story to tell. It needs to share with the world why you exist, what brought you to this point and why I should care about what you are doing. Forming that story and finding the best ways to share it takes time. Instead of selling the features or benefits of your product or service, take the time to craft a genuine, deep and full story that you can pull elements from over an extended period of time. One great story is better than four cheap throw away points that no one remembers.

While none of this rule breaking is rocket science it is a great place to start thinking about your marketing differently. Whether you implement all three of these, or just a couple, it’s important to be true to the voice of your brand. Maybe you need to develop that further and craft the story behind your brand first. Either way just keep working on your marketing objectives. Keep opening doors and letting people know where you stand.