Do you know the secret ingredient to successful marketing? It’s not brilliant copy (though that helps), it’s not billboards in Times Square, it’s not even a regular blog. Do you know what it is?
1—Show up in front of your target market
2—Consistently
3—With a clear and easy to understand message
That’s it!
Sounds simple enough right?
And yet, it’s anything but simple….
Most people I meet have not defined their target market clearly. If that’s you, it means you’ll burn valuable time talking to the wrong people. People who don’t care what you offer. Why not? They aren’t the right audience….or maybe you don’t have the right offer.
That’s a whole different conversation for another day, let’s assume you have a handle on your target market. You know what problems you solve and how you solve them. People buy from you pretty regularly. You’d just like to increase your client base with less work.
Sound familiar?
Here’s how 70% of businesses operate when it comes to their marketing (that’s a completely made up statistic based on observation and experience — it may be closer to 85%.)
These businesses participate in scattered, “random acts of marketing” with a muddy message.
One week, they run some Facebook ads. They don’t get a gazillion orders right away so they try something else. “Let’s give email marketing a try!” someone says excitedly. So they send one, maybe two emails and then give up….
“Hmm…maybe we should sponsor an event/do webinars/buy billboards.”
Each of these can be effective tactics when it comes to generating new clients.
However, if you only do them once in awhile — then they won’t.
Dr. Joe Vitale, author of Hypnotic Writing — among others, said,
“As much as I hate to admit it, mediocre marketing done with consistency will get better results than fantastic marketing done once.”
The key message there is consistency.
You’ll eventually get clients if you simply show up at every networking event in town for six months. They may not be your ideal clients but someone will hire you or buy from you simply because you keep showing up.
Which brings me to the real question. What 3-4 things can you do that consistently puts you in front of your ideal target audience?
Examples include:
- Speaking once a month at an event where your target market spends time
- Having lunch/coffee once a week with an influencer in your target market
- Publishing a weekly blog post and distributing it
- Sending out 200 snail mail letters per week to targeted individuals
- Following up with potential prospects
- Sending an email newsletter monthly
- Cold calling
- Effectively using social media
- Pay per click
- Organic SEO
- Etc.
No, your marketing plan doesn’t have to consist of each of these. But you will see best results when you pick 3-4 and implement them consistently on behalf of keeping your pipeline full.
That’s it.
Which of these will you commit to doing for the next 60 days?
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