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| Less Marketing = More Leads (really?) |
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As Americans we like to subscribe to the theory of bigger is better, but that isn’t always true when it comes to marketing. Especially today, in the age of Social Media and total transparency. You can’t just hit a button and SPAM someone with 50 Tweets, or 10 emails in a week and expect the leads and sales to roll in. It just doesn’t work that way. I see this time and time again. The tools are so efficient, that is is almost TOO EASY to post the comment, send the email, blast the Tweets, and business owners forget about the best interest of their prospect. They only think of their own need, before putting their prospects and their needs first. Where less is actually more… What if, you actually gave your best stuff away. All your secrets, pulled out all the stops and just gave it away. This is often referred to as moving the “Free Line”. Basically to say that when marketing to your ideal client, you should be giving them the best content you have. Help them solve their biggest and hairiest problem. Maybe it through an email, your blog, or maybe you crank a quick video out. But help them solve their biggest problem related to your product or service, or your industry. Wait a second, that’s my “secret sauce” you say… I know, it seems counterintuive but that’s hwo you build trust. You want your ideal client to say Holy Cow, if they are GIVING this kind of content away, I wonder what it would be like to be a client. And that’s where you build your authority and position yourself as an expert. So, back to less marketing… Don’t stop marketing, but make sure every interaction, post, and piece of content is the best stuff you have. Do a quick inventory of all the marketing you do and make sure it solves a problem. One key warning sign is if all of your marketing talks about YOU and not your prospect. Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt |
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Tags: | What Is vs. What Should Be |
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Not to mention balancing family life. I know you can relate… We often times get stuck in the “What Should Be” vs. “What Is” mode. We start looking at things through rose colored glasses, especially when it comes to our marketing efforts. Many small businesses stop measuring and just sit back and assume that leads will pour in. Sound familiar? You launch a one off promotional effort, then wonder why the heck you aren’t getting any leads. The copy was killer, the graphics were spectacular, and still little or nothing in return. When you start looking at “What Is” you start doing things like measuring your results. You look at how each marketing dollar is returning value to your bottom line. You stop “wishing” that leads would come in, and you start actively getting on with testing, tweaking, and seeing results. You stop doing one time promotional efforts, and you build a marketing plan and marketing system. Marketing is a contact sport. You have prospects that you have to move into motion and take action from a dead stop most times. You need to capture their interest, create desire, and then get them off their a@@ to take the next step with your product our service. I’m gonna bet that you are spending time or money in areas that are promotional that you aren’t getting any results from. You keep “wishing” (there’s that word again) that some day that ad will yield results. Again, What Should be vs. What Is. I am as optimistic as you, and quite honestly don’t enjoy what is all the time. But quite frankly there really isn’t a choice. “Should” isn’t going to help you reach your dreams and your goals in your business. Now… Go Target, Attack, and Profit.
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| Marketing Is Hard Until It Is Easy |
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If you think about it, many business owners go into their marketing looking for the “quick fix” many times on the one hit campaign that is going to bring in a flood of leads. Reality check… It just doesn’t happen like that without some hard work, and elbow grease as my grandpa likes to call it. What does that mean from a marketing perspective? It means you need a marketing strategy and a system to execute it. If you don’t have that, marketing and lead generation will be hard, maybe forever. It gets easy when you know each day what you must do to execute your system. You will no longer be frustrated about what to do next. And, you will quit chasing the latest shiniest object out there that promises thousands of leads with one email blast, or page 1 Google rankings for $59… Here are two things you should do right now to get started: 1) Create a marketing strategy – Sit down, and spend the time to create a marketing plan. One of the best solutions I have found that we use in Duct Tape Marketing is Marketing Plan Pro by Palo Alto Software. It is based around the Duct Tape Marketing principles I use to coach small businesses like yours. 2) Just In Time vs. Just In Case Learning – Are you an info junkie? Do you spend time learning “just in case” you need it? Or, do you look at your strategy and focus on learning skills just in time to execute your strategy? Just remember, strategy before tactics is always a winner… Cheers,
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| Go Big Or Go Home! |
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Are you going to GO BIG this year? Are you going to stretch yourself and see what you can really accomplish? Or..are you going to hunker down in your bunker and wait for the storm to blow over? Hopefully the former, and not the latter… Here’s the deal…As a small business owner and operator you have a huge advantage over the larger businesses in many ways. You can react quickly to change, create transparent relationships with you and your company and not just a brand. People like this, and so do your prospects. The marketing tools online have level set the playing field for the little guy, but you have to big, and think bigger than you are currently. You have the entire globe at your fingertips. They are looking for products and services from businesses regardless of location. The world is flat, and getting flatter by the day… THINK BIG, think about how your can morph your product or service and reach businesses outside your local area. Transform your business, start providing valuable information about your trade or skill. Open up opportunities for your business and listen to your prospects. Hopefully your marketing strategy for 2010 includes GOING BIG! If not, tear it up and think bigger, have some fun and challenge the boundaries of what your brain tells you is possible. And more importantly, quit listening to the bad news, fear mongering, and BS on the TV and focus on what you are going to get done in this new economy. Now… Go Target, Attack, And Profit!
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I have one question for you…
