Marketing: Working with and making the most of what you’ve got
When you want to “up your marketing game,” the solution is not usually to scrap everything that you’re currently doing.
Rather, it’s best and more cost-effective to review and work with what you’ve already got in your marketing tool bag.
Working this way will have a less detrimental impact on your business. It will also be less confusing to your clients and prospects.
Make time to get your message straight across all channels
The first thing to address is your message. If you think that your current marketing is missing the mark, that it’s not attracting enough of the people that it should, then you need to look at what you are saying to your target audience.
In short, you need to get your story straight. And you need that story to be told consistently everywhere that you promote your business.
Your website
This is your shop window to the world so creating a strong first impression is really important.
Ideally, your Homepage will carry a strong identifying statement. This is designed to let the people who are most suitable for what you offer know that they have come to the right place.
Check that your messaging is consistent. Check also that all of your links work. Update your landing pages so that they display current products and prices.
The company blog
If you think of your blog as “blurb” just stuff that gets posted because “everyone needs to have a blog…” you really are missing something important.
Regular blogging adds content to your website. This content can be promoted to your clients and prospects through social media.
Just as important, search engines like sites that post frequent updates. These are the sites that they will rank higher when organic searches for specific products or services are made.
If you want to change direction, use your blog to test for responses and opinions. Test and promote new products and services. Use your blog content to create interest in your business and in what you offer.
Your client list
Is your client list growing or slowing? Is the value of an average sale rising or falling? What about purchasing frequency? What is the information on your client list telling you?
Who are your best clients and why? And by best, I mean producing the best margins. Who has the best overall spend? Who buys most frequently? Which companies are your fastest growing clients?
If you want to grow sales, consider this important fact as taught by legendary marketeer Jay Abraham.
There are only three ways to grow any business.
• Increase the number of clients: Get more prospects to be paying customers
• Increase the average transaction value: Get each client to buy more every time they purchase
• Increase the frequency that the average client buys from you: Get each customer to buy from you more often
The starting point for all of the above is to know the current values of spend by your current clients. That information lies within your client database or accounting files. Get digging.
Your prospect list
How organised is your prospect list? Which companies go on the list and why? Who maintains the data? What response rates do you generate from emails and direct mail (if you use direct mail)?
This is a big subject and as a database nerd, I could write thousands of words on this subject. Instead, I’ll limit myself to the next few bullet points.
• Look at your prospect list and often. Be aware of who is on it. Ask yourself; “Are these the right companies for our business?”
• Look at the job titles on your prospect list. Ask yourself; “Are these the right people for our business?”
• Are the entries in your database categorised? For example by industry (car companies or car shows). By Organiser? By the size of stand? By show name? Or by any other categories that work for your business and allow you to easily target specific prospect groups.
You are probably sitting on a mine of new business potential. Get it organised and you
can get it working for you.
What's your sales story?
Do you have a powerful sales story or do you or members of your team run through
their version of the benefits of your product or service?
Consistency in sales and marketing provides direction. If you haven’t looked at or
updated your sales story and support materials in months or even years, get to it now.
Do you have a sales deck?
This is the standard presentation that sells your company when you or your colleagues meet with prospective clients.
Everyone in your sales team should know the presentation inside and out.
The sales team for your business
Who is the best performing salesperson on your team? Why is that? What do they do or
say that other members of the team could learn from and use themselves? Which elements of the way they sell should be included in your marketing?
Is enough training being given to the team, especially to weaker performers? Are you
listening to feedback from your salespeople and reacting to the opportunities and
threats they are highlighting?
Meet with them regularly. Listen. Reward. Enthuse and lead.
Get things out of your head and into the business
Over the past weeks, months or years, you’ve been making notes mentally or written (hopefully written).
These notes are about the tweaks and changes that you want to make. The things that you’ve promised yourself you’ll do when you have the time.
We both know that if you haven’t done anything with these notes by now then you won’t get the time you’ve been hoping for. You have to make the time.
Carve out some space in your diary now to get this thinking organized.
If you work with a management team, you might consider organising a group strategy day. It’s important to ask from time to time, “where do we want to get to?”
Once you know the answer to that question, you can work out the route that will get you there. If you lead a company or a team, get your own thinking done first.
If you follow these steps, it’s unlikely that you will ever have to completely change how you market your business. That’s because you will have already done it. Step by step, using the information that already lies within your reach.
