I think the biggest problem many of us face when it comes to marketing, is that we simply get overwhelmed. There just seems to be so many moving parts that it’s easy to throw up one’s hands and say, “I give up.”
While that’s understandable, the reality is that you’re probably never going to get out of the feast-or-famine business cycles, or take your business to the level you desire, without some sort of marketing system in place.
And that word “system” is key.
The beauty of having a system is that once you set it up, then you can largely let it run on autopilot. But, (you knew there was a “but” coming) that doesn’t completely address the issue of how to set up your system without getting overwhelmed. Let me try to help-and keep in mind I’m a passionate believer in “simple” vs “complex”.
The Don’t-Get-Overwhelmed-With-Marketing approach starts with a simple philosophy; “Never sell to strangers.” What I mean by this is to focus on building relationships first, and only sell to people with whom you already have a relationship. Fortunately, setting up a system to do precisely just that is straight-forward.
There are 3 components, and you need to do these in order. (Please resist the temptation to worry/focus on step 3 before you do steps 1 & 2.)
Step 1: Go to your website. Is there a great “hooky” offer of free information that is prominently advertised on the page? (And no, I’m not talking about a “sign up for our newsletter” box.) This is the crucial step #1. According to those who track such things, up to 96% of visitors who come to your site, aren’t ready to buy or contact you for more information. That means that if you don’t offer this great “hooky’ free offer, you don’t have a chance of building a relationship with people who have a small amount of interest in you. (And if you do step #2 right, you’ll convert a whole lot of these idle prospects into paying clients.)
So the first thing you need to do is create that great free offer. (Remember “HOOKY” topics-not “Here’s what we do”. There’s a big difference.)
Step 2: Create great messages that you send after people request the free offer. Nope, this isn’t a newsletter (although you can certainly supplement the personal messages with a newsletter). You want to have your drip messages have a tone of intimacy as if they are being written to a single individual (even though they may be sent out to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people over time). This is crucial regardless of whether you’re selling b2b or b2c. Building the emotional connection is key and it’s these messages that will do just that for you.
Step 3: Now (and only after steps 1&2 are done-to beat a dead horse) focus on driving traffic to the page. There are lots and lots of options: SEO, paid advertising on google, facebook, linked in, article marketing, videos, slideshare, direct mail, speaking…the list goes on and on.
Although people tend to focus and obsess on traffic, it’s really steps 1 & 2 that are the most crucial.
Once you have this system in place (the hooky free offer and the drip marketing sequence) now you are in a position where you can put as much-or little-marketing muscle into getting people to the site. What you finally have is a SYSTEM. And guess what…?
That feeling of being overwhelmed just goes away.
Now, if you’d like some personal guidance on how to do this I’d recommend my coaching program.
Alternatively, if you’d like for us to create your hooky free offer, write all your emails, send them out, create the “eye-catching” ad for your website, well no big surprise, I can do that for you as well. Information about that is HERE.
Thanks and talk soon,
Mark
