Most business owners don’t how to do effective marketing.

The purpose of this post is to outline this process in a simple way and show how we do this for our clients.  There are 5 steps.

1. Understand your Customer and their Needs

This means verifying your assumptions about your customer’s hot button needs by talking to actual customers.  You want to find out the most important things they want when buying what you sell.

For example, a home improvement contractor’s customers usually want these things: they want you to show up on time, they want you to charge what you promised, to do quality work, stand behind that work with a guarantee and keep their workplace clean and not leave trash all over.

What do your customers want?  Do you know?

2. Determine whether Innovation is necessary

How do you deliver on your customer’s needs?  Are you demonstrably better than your competitors or not? If you are just the same as everyone else you compete with, then you need to innovate the make yourself better.

This process of actually being better than your competitors is necessary so you will have something good to say in your marketing.  Marketing that just uses platitudes and says what everyone else says is a waste of money.

The key to effective marketing is to “Have something good to say”, “Say it well”, and “Say it often”.

Innovation can create that something good to say.

We have a systematic process that we use to help our clients do this so you do innovation on the issues that matter to your customers.

3.  Create your Strategic Marketing Plan

Strategy comes before tactics.  In marketing, this means developing what you say, how you say it and who you say it to.  You need to do this before creating any ads, web pages or marketing communications.

“What you say” means how you communicate your superior ability to deliver on your customers hot button needs (that you just developed by innovating as needed in the previous step).

“How you say it” is copywriting that needs to clearly and persuasively communicate why you are the best choice and . . .

“who you say it to” is your target market.

4.  Create your Tactical Marketing Plan

This has three sections – Lead Generators (include ads, landing pages, social media pages and ads, direct mail campaigns, lead magnets, referral programs, emails, etc) that bring prospects into your marketing funnel.

Marketing Tools (brochures, web sites, scripts, signage, audio content, video content, newsletters, white papers, reports, and more) further educate your prospects once they are in your funnel.  Then,

Follow-Up Systems (sequential follow up systems using email, direct mail, telemarketing, and any other multi-step follow up sequences).  Follow up sequences are intended to stay in touch with prospects by providing helpful and welcomed information over time so that when a prospect is ready to buy they will choose you.

All the components of your tactical plan educate the prospect as to how to buy what you sell and how to make the best decision for their needs whether it is you or not.

When you help people make the best decision for them, this builds goodwill and trust so that when the time comes to make a buying decision, you are the only logical choice.

5.  Create the Sales Plan

The goal here is to “franchise” your sales system by systemizing the process using marketing tools.

This will make sure you get the optimum results every time. We want to turn your company into a selling machine that doesn’t have to rely on superstar sales people but improves the performance of all.

This process does the sifting and sorting of prospects to deliver the best prospects to sales staff and also includes the creation of “knock-down” lists of key target accounts and the plans to get them closed.

Maximize & Optimize Strategies

Think of these as bonus strategies but also critically important.

– Perpetual Selling Strategies are designed to get customers to come back over and over again to provide a steady stream of sales and profits

– Joint Ventures leverage other companies customers and relationships for your mutual advantage.

– Upselling and Cross-Selling increase the profits of each sale.  You can consider including products and services that you do not provide yourself but that your JV partners offer.

– Referral Systems – we have over 30 different systems we can incorporate into your business.  Most businesses believe referrals are their absolute best prospects so don’t leave getting referrals up to chance, proactively install systems to create them!

Contact me at joemcvoy@gmail.com or by phone/text at 303-884-0859 for information on how we can help you to do all this for your business.

 

Most small business owners, and plenty of large business marketing employees, get marketing strategy confused with marketing tactics.

As a marketing strategy consultant, I often get clients who come to me and ask me to write an ad without understanding that developing the marketing strategy needs to come before the tactical implementation of an ad or campaign.

Here’s marketing strategy simplified

Strategy should always come before tactics.

Marketing Strategy is:

• “What To Say”
• “How To Say It”
• “Who To Say It To”

In other words, the “what to say” part is your message. The “how to say it” part is how and with what words will you say it (also called copywriting), and the “who to say it to” part is your target market.

If you don’t know who you are trying to reach and what message you want to communicate, your marketing will suck. This is why you see so many marketing messages with a headline of the company name, a photo of the owner or their product.

Marketing Tactics are:

• “When To Say It”
• “Where To Say It”
• “How Often To Say It”

This is where most business owners start. The “when” means the timing of your message, the “where” means through which media, and the “how often” part refers to the frequency of your marketing.

If you don’t take the time to define who you are trying to reach and then put together a message that will capture your prospect’s attention and get them to take some sort of action, you are wasting your money.

The Internet is not a strategy.

It’s just another media, or way to get your message out. There are plenty of different types of media both online and offline, and as Dan Kennedy teaches, you need a match between your message, your market and your media. Just as it makes no sense to use social media to target older people who never use it, it is appropriate to use mobile phone marketing, Facebook and text messaging to reach the younger generation.

In fact, my kids don’t respond to phone calls or voice mails, they text. I’ve even seen teenagers sitting across from each other sending texts instead of talking!

As marketers, our goal should be to reach the people we want to reach with a message that is relevant and interesting to them as inexpensively as possible. Spending some time to set up and define your marketing strategy before spending money is a great idea!

To get training on how to do this, go here to get access to the best and most comprehensive training available and here to see the details on the Internet marketing training available.

Affiliate marketing is, by the speedy standards of the online world, a venerable marketing strategy. There has been significant profits to be made in affiliate promotion for years. If you know where to look, you are going to find a wealth of information on affiliate promotion. From beginner to established affiliate marketer, the tips below will help you to hone and tweak your strategies for even greater success!

Be sure the products you are promoting are good ones. What you recommend also as an effect on how customers view your business. By promoting products that prove to be useful to your customers, they will trust your opinion more and are more likely to return. For the best results, only recommend excellent products that can be had for a fair price.

Make a special website just for your affiliates if you’re looking to boost your own sales. If you do your best to improve your affiliate program’s reputation, then you’ll find that more people sign up every day. If you do a good job with SEO on your website, you could attract affiliates that have never heard of your services or products.

Internet marketing often means you need some start-up capital. You should continue to invest in your marketing campaigns once they start to pay off. A little money invested in advertisements purchased on the big sites, like Google, Yahoo, or Facebook, will pay off handsomely.

Tracking System

Many vendors may attempt to scam you; they do this using their tracking system. If you use a tracking system with a proven reputation you can avoid most of these problems.

If you are open and honest about your use of web marketing programs, your customers will have a more positive attitude toward your business. Successful affiliate marketers understand that treating customers fairly and establishing a reputation for honesty are important considerations. If you can convince your audience that your affiliate links also have value, they are far more likely to check them out.

Set yourself small goals every single day to aid you in your web marketing strategy. Using Windows task manager shows you in the task bar what is left to do and can help you stay motivated.

Select affiliate programs that make a good fit with your website’s visitors. If you sell fancy clothes, don’t plaster affiliate links for crappy acrylic yarn all over your site. Keep in mind that your site visitors are there for a specific purpose. Use this fact to your advantage by placing ads that specifically target their needs and interests.

Companies that continually create new products are perfect partners for an affiliate promotion program. If the company is always releasing something new, you’ll have a better chance to attract repeat business. Stay away from gimmick and fad products.

Affiliate programs can be very different from one another. They differ in flexibility, products offered, and a number of other features.

Try having a contest or a prize for visitors on your site. Visitors who are interested in your contest will return to the site regularly and may also tell others to visit the website as well.

As an affiliate marketer, you represent your current and future businesses as a whole; which requires an honest attitude at all times. Be upfront about your relationship with an affiliate, instilling trust in your visitors. When visitors feel that you are dishonest about the relationship you have with your retailers, they may bypass your site, purchasing the product they desire directly from the merchant.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn profits right now. As you would find to be the case with any marketing strategy, doing research before you begin is key to your success.

So, you have decided it is time to do some Website marketing. Pretty riveting, isn’t it? With all the information out there about Affiliate marketing, however, where do you start? Fortunately, this article is packed with useful and practical tips. In the article below, you will find some great tips and tricks you can use in order to stand out in a crowd.

A good web marketing strategy should always include giving your customers a money back guarantee if something is not right. Your customers will feel safer and you will be more reputable. By establishing that you will be fully responsible, customers are far more likely to put some trust in you and click that “buy” button.

Use tech tools to help measure how many visitors become customers to help improve your marketing strategy. Many major online companies offer a variety of easily customized integrated web add-ons and trackers that compare the number of visitors against the number of sales and repeat visitors.

Have special promotions to attract more visitors to your website. This may include short-term sales or fun incentives for extra purchases. Those buying the e-book are more likely to check out the site afterward. Oftentimes, these sorts of customers will leave your site with more than just that one dollar item.

Design an all-inclusive website with an emphasis on fresh, relevant content. You must focus on being able to give your customer knowledge in a short amount of time for them to know the product that they are buying. Stay away from unnecessary information or repetitive content. It will only make your readers less interested in what you have to offer.

If you hold any kind of promotion, event or product push online, you must track how it is perceived by your customers in an effort to make the next offering more successful. After you have launched your online promotion event, keep track of the way people are responding to it on forums and blogs. Respond to the advice by making changes next time. People are always happy when their concerns are addressed.

Make sure that each page on your site is clear and helpful. Every page on your site should share the same basic headline, including the site name and a little bit of information about it. Having the website name in this prominent place will let your visitor know where they are no matter which page is the result of their search.

Now, aren’t you feeling more relieved after going over these tips? Even though it might be a lot to process, you now are aware of what to do when using the Internet for marketing. Refer back to this powerful advice frequently.

Successful online marketing can be a goldmine if you approach it wisely. There are so many ways to launch a company on the Internet, they all take time to do. Use your time wisely, and make the most out of it. Continue reading to gain tips on managing your time while marketing your business.

Psychology research reports involving Internet promotion and website design may be worth your time to read. Psychological aspects can immensely effect how someone views your brand, established by the theme, outlay and color of your website. These tricks can easily improve your business’ profits.

Consider using positive words such as “guarantee” whenever you are writing ad descriptions. Even though a guarantee is only as good as the company behind it, people want to know they are not taking a risk by buying your product. Customers value their hard-earned cash highly, and when they see a guarantee, they believe their chances of wasting their money are lower.

Any online business plan and marketing strategy should include a fully secure ordering process. Many shoppers feel anxious about sharing their personal or financial information online, so make your customers feel at ease by reminding them that their info is secure.

Real-time leads are excellent for boosting your sales. These leads instantly connect you to your target demographic. There is no waiting period during the time their information was completed to the time of your contact, which could result with more of a chance of turning the lead toward a sale.

View your site from your customer’s point of view. Is it simple to use? Is the content enjoyable and interesting? Can people place orders easily and quickly? It’s pointless to do all the SEO strategies and leg work necessary to bring in the customers, then lose them with a confusing and sub-par website.

People often do not believe everything they read in ads. This a result of many companies not being forthright about their products and services in the past. Because of this, you should share evidence for all of your claims. Add reviews, pictures, videos, interviews and anything else you can think of. Never make claims that you are unable to prove. You should be respectful of your customers and provide them with quality content. Do not take advantage of people. You can build a better reputation and gain loyal customers that will keep buying from you in the future.

One effective internet marketing move is to provide even more discounts when spending a certain amount. One example is to give customers 20% off orders above $300. They will be more apt to buy more products.

Great content is the basis of a strong, effective Website marketing strategy. It is essential that you review the content often to make sure that you are providing a message that is relevant to your customers. Have a friend proofread your content. A fresh perspective can be invaluable to your evaluation process. Don’t destroy all your hard work by not running a strong spell check and grammar check for the content. You want it to be correct.

It should be obvious at this point that Internet marketing can be done in a time-efficient manner. Be decisive and smart about how you spend your time, and prosperity will follow.

As time moves on, the role that Web marketing plays in your online business simply gets more and more important. If you do not have an Internet presence, your business may not be able to succeed. Now is the ideal time to get started. You can get yourself off to a great start by checking out the savvy advice presented below.

Stay in touch with your customers. Encourage people to give you their email address or to connect with you on social networks by advertising special offers regularly. Try offering freebies or maybe having a contest that they need to use their e-mail to participate in. You have a better chance of getting someone’s information if you offer them something of value.

Make it your personal responsibility to resolve customer complaints. While passing off complaints to an outside firm may seem tempting, you’ll get improved results if you take care of them yourself. If an unhappy customer sends you an irate email, respond yourself to that email, offer a resolution, and let the customer know that you value him or her and his or her business.

Use social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to connect with your audience. These sites allow you to stay in constant touch with your customers, and allow an easy way to contact them to let them know about promotions or updates. At the same time, however, you should avoid sending out a constant barrage of promotional posts and updates. Instead, be sure to provide your readers with posts that are helpful and insightful.

A great way to play to your customers is to offer a variety of special deals on the ordering page of your site. For example, you can offer products at half-price if the customer orders a certain amount. This is excellent for getting rid of excess inventory and also to help boost sales, while letting your customers feel appreciated.

You will gain more business if you allow more payment options. While just having credit card payment might seem like enough, it couldn’t hurt to also give people other forms of payment such as PayPal and their bank accounts.

If you have a place on your site people can comment, it might help you market your products. Customers can share their experiences and this can increase sales.

Try and make your marketing campaign personal. Show who you are and what you represent to your customers. Share with the public your full name and a portrait of yourself. You have the option to also provide a couple paragraphs stating a mission or guarantee to your customers.

Connect with a reputable charity. A charity that customers could get behind is recommended. Be sure you specify that with a purchase, you’ll donate a percentage to charity. You will get free advertisement from this charity and boost your image. You can partner with more than a singular charity to give your costumer base a chance to choose which to support.

Web marketing does not have to take place solely on the internet. In person conferences can be arranged, making Affiliate marketing a great tool on and offline. Knowing your market cannot be underestimated, so use your blog and the online community to get to know the other players and customers that are out there.

Create your website to be interesting, well constructed and full of content that is relevant. The website that you create is the very center of the web marketing strategy you employ. It should be a pleasant place for people to visit. The design should be engaging enough to grab your audience’s attention, making them want to keep looking around.

Write articles about your business and send them to magazines for publishing. Ensure you have the business information for your company in the articles. Try to speak to the editors and offer them freebies or affiliate commissions as an incentive to publish your articles.

Your eyes should be open as to how you can market your business through the internet. It is easy to tailor these ideas to an individual situation. There is a variety of knowledge available. When you implement these tips, you’re putting yourself in a better position to create a successful affiliate marketing strategy.