In doubt how to market your business when you are already running short of funds. To market you DON’T NEED MONEY BUT IDEAS!
To implement and execute an idea one has to have a marketing plan in place which is as important as a blueprint for constructing a building. If one gets the strategy part right in marketing, he or she can surround it with just about any set of tactics that are performed and measured consistently.These easy 7 steps will help your business shine.
STEP 1. Strategy before tactics
Part One – Identify the ideal client (get focused)
- Find your most profitable clients.
- From the above group, identify those that refer.
- From that even smaller group, find common demographic characteristics.
- Take the time now to understand the behaviour that makes them ideal.
- Draw a fully developed biographical sketch to use as a marketing guide.
Part Two – Differentiate the business
Ask ideal clients questions like:
- What made you decide to hire us?
- What’s one thing we do better than others like us?
- What’s one thing we could do better?
- Would you refer us or do you refer us?
- If you would refer us, what would you say?
STEP 2. The marketing hourglass
It suggests that there’s a logical progression through which every customer comes to know, like, and trust a company. Once that occurs, the customer then decides to try, buy, repeat, and refer.
7 phases of the hourglass:
- Know – ads, articles, and referred leads
- Like – website, reception, and email newsletter
- Trust – marketing kit, white papers, and sales presentations
- Try – webinars, evaluations, and nurturing activities
- Buy – fulfilment, new customer kit, delivery, and financial arrangements
- Repeat – post customer survey, cross-sell presentations, and quarterly events
- Refer – results reviews, partner introductions, peer-2-peer webinars, and community building
To implement it successfully ponder over these questions:-
- What is the free or trial offering?
- What is the starter offering?
- What is the “make it easy to switch” offering?
- What is the core offering?
- What are the add-ons to increase value?
- What are the members-only offerings?
- What are the strategic partner pairings?
STEP 3. Publish educational content
Your content and publishing efforts must be focused on achieving two things: building trust and educating.
Content that builds trust:
- Blogs
- Social Media – with creating accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn etc. also claim your profiles within the Business Week, Entrepreneur and Inc. magazine communities. Building rich profiles, and optimizing links, images and videos that point back to the main site is an important part of the content strategy play.
- Reviews
- Testimonials
Content that educates:
- The points of view white paper
- Seminars
- FAQs
- Success stories
STEP 4. Create total web presence
Identify the platforms that suit your business the most and then make sure to be there, may it be a social media platform or an online directory.
STEP 5. Operate a lead generation trio
Today’s integrated lead generation trio consists of creating education-based approaches that blend the use of:
- Advertising
- Public relations
- Referrals
STEP 6. Make a selling system
A selling system that does the following for you:
- Discovery
- Presentation
- Nurturing
- Transaction
- Review
STEP 7.Living by the calendar
- Monthly themes – Choose one marketing need – redo your website, write your marketing kit, create a new customer process – and make it the theme for that month.
- Weekly reviews – Your weekly marketing review should include everyone in your organization and post the simple question, “What needs to be done next?” to each project on your plate.
- Daily appointments – Make it a habit to schedule one time slot dedicated solely to marketing each day.
Remember, challenge is not when you have an amazing idea and you have heaps of cash to execute it but when you have no money at all. That is what leads to innovation and the result is – smart, perky and viral ideas that the world falls in love with J
Reference source: http://ducttapemarketing.com/
Tags: digital marketing, marketing
