There are 3 very simple steps that lead to marketing success – every time, no exceptions. If you follow these steps you will see sales growth without fail. However, if you fail at any or all of these steps, your results will be inconsistent and unreliable. Most companies do a good job at one or two, but only the best companies are great at all three. See where you stand.
Step One – Get attention. This has always been the most obvious step in any marketing plan. If you don’t attract attention, the rest of your efforts are irrelevant. But attention is a tricky thing. It is harder and more expensive to achieve in our digital world. Getting attention means standing out in the crowd. How do you emerge in an environment where everyone else is trying to make a splash as well? Being unique is very important to attracting attention. What makes your company worthy of being noticed?
Step Two – Engage the right people in meaningful conversation. There are a couple of key elements to this stage of the process. Finding the right people and getting them to listen is a start. However, to create success, you must strive to get your prospect to engage with you. Engagement offers the opportunity to learn what they need and demonstrate why you are their best answer. In our fast-paced, interactive world, offering valuable information to your target audience is an excellent way to build this relationship. Do you know your target audience? Do you know the information they are seeking? Are you providing it? What kind of response are you getting in return?
Step Three – Nurture your prospect until they are ready to buy. This is sales training 101 for 2013. In the age of the Internet, buyers call the shots. They buy when they want and they buy from the person who offers what they value most. If they value price and you offer service, you are out of luck. But had you done a good job of nurturing that relationship from the start, you’d have known their preference and either provided the best price or removed them from your target list – right? Buyers may call the shots, but it is your job to make sure your company is positioned as the best – if not only – option for them when the time is right. So what are you doing to nurture those relationships until they are ‘ready to buy’?
As you look at your marketing plan for this coming year, I challenge you to figure out what you are doing to Get Attention, Engage the Right People, and Nurture Them until They Buy. It seems like a pretty simple plan, but as you start unraveling the layers, you’ll realize there is quite a bit to consider.
In the next few weeks we’ll be coming back to this conversation to create systems that deliver success throughout the marketing chain. In the meantime, I urge you to take a look at the Leadstra model and consider how our program starts to automate some of these elements. We spend a lot of time working this model and making it deliver results for our clients. Consider how a similar model might work for you.
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