7 Steps to Effective Marketing

Every day my clients get waylaid by a barrage of unsolicited “experts,” with the latest and greatest wiz-bang promotional doo-dads designed to rocket-launch their business into the stratosphere.

It’s free, a free-trial, a one time offer, specialized training, books, videos, streaming classes, free seminars, email tips, on and on and on ad infinitum…

At some point, you just have to let your clients take their own reins and responsibility for their own decisions. So, let go and support my clients as best I can with whatever they choose to do is the best I can do.

I can’t compete with the constant promotional efforts of those whose mission in life is to fleece individuals, promising unrealistic results and impossible guarantees based on improbable expectations.

That said, it is also a part of my job to stay on the leading edge of technology in particular areas within my realm of expertise. That means, that I, too, must subject myself to all the claims of latest and greatest tools and techniques, being careful not to be distracted by meaningless bells and whistles.

What it comes down to – the bottom line – is

What creates the best lasting results with the least amount of effort or expense?

Although much can be helpful – and not harmful – in your marketing efforts, but is it worth the effort or expense?

Marketing one’s business is important – it is likely more important than having the best product or service in the world – because what good is it to be or have the best if no one knows about it?

This is one of my areas of expertise and is why people seek me out to be a member of their team, but I am only a team member not the prime source of their marketing program.

Unfortunately, there is no black and white, step by step, marketing approach that works for every product or service every time. Marketing is a moving target that takes a lot of trial and error, experimentation and tracking costs and results.

If you have the following basic components, you will have a firm foundation on which to build your marketing campaign.

7 Steps to Effective Marketing

7 Steps to Effective Marketing

#1 Consistent Brand

You must have a consistent and brief summation of your product or service, something that reduced to its simples form communicates what it is you or your company is all about.

#2 Web Presence

You need a web site, or family of websites that creates a picket fence of protection for your product, idea or main marketing theme, message or product. (Remember brand comes first, domain name second, but they go hand-in-hand [Masters Branding 101]… Do not commit to a brand that you cannot protect with a dot-com.)

#3 Think SEO Google

At least for the time being Google is the best cost & effort for the results deal outperforming all the other methods of marketing. Focus on having some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) including keywords, images and best use of your family of domains offering regularly valuable content for Google’s spiders when they come by to scan your site. Add some AdWords campaigns and you’re good to go.

#4 Email Marketing

Create collection methods to get the emails of individuals interested in your product(s) and/or service(s). Offer them something significant in exchange for their email address and their permission to contact them at a later date via email. This is of vital importance to your marketing efforts, creating a relationship with your clients/potential clients. Be careful not to over-market to your email subscribers.

#5 Participate in Social Media

The strength and payback of social media ebbs and flows for each business independently. Only participating and tracking individual results can determine what will work best for you and your product or service. At the time of this post the bulk of my clients are getting their best results for their Facebook pages; plus Facebook offers advertising and promotional programs for a fee that can be quite effective.

#6 Multimedia Marketing

There are many ways to offer value with audio and video content making it available to your audience, via iTunes, podcasts, webcasts, vblogs, LiveCast (via cellphone), Skype (one-to-one live interaction & classes), Periscope, Vimeo and the king of all multimedia marketing (accounting for 99% of the results) is none other than YouTube.

#7 Expanding Sales Funnel

What good is it to market your product or service if you have nothing to sell… and always something more to sell your buyers. The fact is, if you give them something to buy –and they opt to buy – there is a good chance they will buy more, if you give them the opportunity. Expanding your sales funnel includes always have another upsell for your clients; ever give your people another way to invest with you, always.

There you have it.

The seven basic tools that you need to safely and effectively start your marketing efforts… The rest is research and development conducted on-the-fly tracking results meticulously.

2 thoughts on “7 Steps to Effective Marketing”

  1. The only thing I would add is that you can’t out-source your brand or your social persona. You can enlist help, support, and coaching but your brand has to reflect who you are, what your business is, and carry the message that is consistent with those things. If they do not people will detect the disconnect and will not trust.

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