To build a business, when marketing, invest the time and effort to effectively address the following –
Tip 1. MARKET FOR YOUR DESIRED PROSPECTS (NOT YOURSELF)
What looks excellent to you is not necessarily effective for your desired audience. This is the largest mistake people make over and over again. They come up with a thought, they reckon it’s fantastic, a few friends, family or nontarget market people give them the thumbs up and they run with the ball. When it doesn’t work, they don’t know why.
Do market research and test your strategies on your target market. Huge companies do lots of market research before launching a product or service. The small guys don’t have the resources to match this but that doesn’t mean you omit it. Even if you are an independent professional, you need to do marketing research. And market research isn’t a one-time deal – it needs to be incorporated into your marketing system and it needs to be ongoing.
Tip 2. ANSWER THESE CRITICAL MARKETING QUESTIONS
1: WHAT’S THIS ABOUT ?
Is it immediately clear to the reader what is being offered ? Any opaqueness, confusion, or question marks in their mind, even for a second, and they don’t engage. Don’t be cute or clever – make it simple and clear. Cute and clever has a reference point now with S*P*AM or hype. Don’t let them place you into that category.
2: WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME ?
The huge benefits are very clear and directly stated… not implied; the reader doesn’t have to guess. The listener doesn’t have to guess. They come to you from all different stages of readiness and desire levels.
How do you handle each one when they arrive makes what occurs afterwards critical. It isn’t what you perceive that they want, it is what they perceive what they want. Stop guessing. Start asking questions and don’t ever stop.
3: CAN I TRUST YOU ?
How do I know you are safe and credible ? Can I find out easily enough if I want to ? Is your contact info prominently displayed to facilitate building a relationship with you ? Utilize a photos where possible (and appropriate).
Further, disclosure of company, products, people, white papers, etc. information on your company website is crucial to building familiarity, comfort and trust. Make a safe place for them to be — a comfort zone. If you offer a complimentary session, realize that people don’t immediately sign up for these because they aren’t comfortable yet. It doesn’t matter if you reckon you are safe, it’s what they reckon. Step them through becoming safe with you.
People are either boulders or blue birds. Blue birds are simple to convert to clients. Boulders need to know that they have a safe place to roll to before they will go.
4: DO I FEEL GOOD ABOUT THIS ?
Do I WANT to engage with you ? Do I feel COMPELLED to click or pick up the phone (or whatever the call to action is) ? Will I be better of with you than without ? Do I believe I’m making the right choice (on the people, products, services, etc.) ? What’s the motivation – Am I being motivated by dread, shame, or being empowered to make an excellent choice ? Am I so excited that I want to tell all my friends ?
To summarize, lots of questions need to be answered – to address the personal and business needs people have before they buy from you. Make sure you deliver.
Tip 3. ALWAYS INCLUDE THESE KEY ELEMENTS IN YOUR MARKETING MESSAGES
1: POWERFUL HEADLINE
This grabs their attention and lets the reader know what you can do for them, including the huge benefits. Say what the largest benefit is up front. Make it about them. Use attractive words that rock their boulder so they read more.
2: COMPELLING CALL TO ACTION
Your desired result is to motivate the prospective client to act immediately, engage you directly or indirectly, and become a qualified business opportunity by getting their contact information. What do you want people to do – E-mail, phone, what ? What will compel them to take action ?
3: OFFER THEM MULTIPLE CONTACT METHODS
Offer a choice between e-mail, telephone, web site, etc, so your prospect can choose what is most comfortable to them. Plus make it easy, quick and convenient to engage. For example, can visitors to your web site find your contact information in < 30 seconds ?
Tip 4. CREATE A SYSTEM
Design a marketing system that you can be utilized repeatedly. Make it as automatic as possible. Question the most valuable series of questions to yourself, “And then what do you want them to do ?” …. until the process is completed.
While the system should be simple to use, a well thought out, sophisticated system with advanced technologies and processes is typically needed. As such, sometimes it takes months to create a system – but once set up and it runs automatically, you have advantage.
Don’t waste your time, effort, and money with one-shot deals or fragmented marketing activities. Leverage everything. If you use writing for publicity, don’t just write an article once for your ezine, question “And now what ?” Send the article to past clients with a FYI or “just in case you didn’t see this yet.”
Tip 5: FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, AND FOLLOW UP AGAIN
Following up is crucial. Set up a follow up system that is a part of your overall marketing system and is as automatic as possible.
If you want to always have that “personal touch” with everyone, hire a virtual assistant as part of your system. Always have the next step plotted and let your prospects know of future opportunities to engage you.
Remember people are at different levels and need to build trust with you. Give them the ladder and the rungs to do that and they will.
Always contact your leads within 24 hours of receiving them. Follow up a week or two later, to enable them to build familiarity with you, your company, your products, your value proposition, etc. If they have an issue, resolve it – quickly. In any event – communicate, communicate, communicate. Always follow up by e-mail, telephone, etc, multiple times. And confirm agreement on an item or it’s right since, 80 % of sales are made after five or more contacts.
These elements will make all the difference in the world between struggling to get clients and being successful in marketing your services and ramping sales.