You know STREAMLINING is my mantra!
You are already a busy business owner. You often don’t have the time for trial and error, getting caught up going round in circles trying to figure out what marketing efforts work best.
Staying up late pouring over your analytics wondering why your numbers aren’t where they need to be is no fun.
You shouldn’t feel like you have to switch up your brand voice or offerings every few weeks because nothing resonates.
I may never get these dogs untangled 😄 but I can help you streamline your marketing if you follow a few proven steps.
1. Know Your Clients
It’s an exciting moment when you zero in on your IDEAL client, isn’t it? For some, it happens early on in business. For others, it can take years.
I’d love to help you NOT fall into the latter category.
It’s important to be able to answer these questions about your ideal clients:
- What makes them tick?
- Where do they hang out (physically and online)?
- What are their goals and aspirations?
- What are their pain points and challenges?
- What are their possible objections to your products/services?
If you find yourself scratching your head at these, it’s time to consider and document the characteristics of your favoritepast or current customers/clients. Then set up a call or coffee and talk with them. For any above question you have trouble answering, ask them!
These are the people to model your ideal client avatar after. They were effortlessly attracted to your business, sometimes without you even trying!
2. Have a Compelling Offer
Once you’ve zeroed in on your ideal client, engage them!
Most of us crave a world where our clients are so instantly taken by our offers, they flood our emails, voicemails, and sales pages with off-the-charts engagement.
Sounds like a dream, right?
You actually have 3 seconds to make your pitch – 3 seconds! – to capture your audience’s attention. During that time, your goal is to be instantly appealing with the services/products you offer.
How? Take these steps –
• Make it EASY to Understand: What challenges do you solve? What results do you provide? How would this make a difference in their lives or work? Make sure your offer immediately clarifies these key points. Don’t make them wait for it!
• Enhance Your “Know, Like, and Trust” Factor: People buy from people they trust. It’s so important to build credibility with your audience before you sell them anything. Use testimonials, be consistent with your messaging across platforms, think about developing relationships (not sales), and provide value-oriented information before you ask them to commit.
• Create a Compelling CTA: Finish strong! Create a simple Call-to-Action to invite the user to hire you or engage with you further.
3. Ensure Your Messaging is Clear (and Human!)
Does you marketing messaging resonate deeply with your ideal client?
Research shows that most people make decisions using a fairly EVEN mix of logic and emotion. It’s important that you demonstrate both sides of your brand.
For instance, if a clothing company were to use a slogan like…”The newest Fall styles in the highest quality”…They’ve hit the nail on the head – Emotional Impulse (assuming their ideal client is into seasonal fashion) and Logical Reasoning!
This is also an important way to showcase the ‘human element’ in your marketing.
PwC found that 64% of consumers feel companies have lost touch with the human element of customer experience. A purely data-oriented strategy would offer people the facts in the quickest way possible, but a data-driven strategy paired with an empathetic delivery – Here comes a soon-to-be satisfied and loyal customer!
4. Focus on the “Right” Marketing Activities
The Pareto Principle states that roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of inputs. In business, this natural principle often applies. In this case, 80% of business typically comes from 20% of marketing activities.
If you have been in business for a while, you’ll often see that there are one or two (occasionally three) marketing activities you perform that result in most of your business. Figure out what those activities are and focus your consistent time, energy, and money here. It’s such a basic principle, yet I often see people spreading themselves way too thin.
For a more in-depth look at focusing on the “right” marketing activities, see my “All of Marketing is a Formula” blog post.
What about you? Do you have any creative marketing tips that resonate deeply with your clients? Please share them in the comments.