HOW DO I GET MY MARKETING TO ACTUALLY WORK?

[4 Minute Read]
 
Many business owners open their doors, send out direct mail, run an ad and cross their fingers. This works for very few because one critical element is typically missing. The mistake we see each and every day is that assumptions are being made as to what will convince customers to jump in their car, find & pay for parking and walk into your store or simply call you. All of those actions require a lot of effort for most of your customers and if your marketing isn’t motivating them to do so, then your time and money is being wasted.
 
Here are 4 steps to make your customers want to spend money with you:

1. Examine the Largest Piece of Your Revenue Pie: Determine the category of product and/or service that brings in the largest slice of cold hard cash. If 65% of your income is derived from a specific product, you now need to know how to tell the customers who value that product that you have it sitting in your store waiting for them. But who is the customer that this offering will be most appealing to? Maybe you have two types of customers that find value in what you’re offering? Maybe they come from two different generations.
2. Stop Assuming & Have Conversations: Everyday, we meet with business owners and map out what they think makes their customers tick. From their home life to how they use social media, we cover it all, but the one area that is most impactful is talking through their customers’ pain points in life as well as with the process of making purchase decisions. This process can be quite eye-opening, but the next step is where the gold nuggets of intel come into play. The essential part of this process is to have actual conversations with your customers and ask them about their average day and week including what they do for fun, where they shop & dine, how they get their news and information and most importantly what are their frustrations in life and what’s on their wish list for making life just a little bit easier for them. This might mean taking some loyal customers to lunch or coffee or providing them a gift for their time, but this information will be intrinsically valuable both in the short and long-term when you find out what is going through their and their like-minded friends’ and family’s minds. You will now know where to spend your time & money, including where to advertise, who to make a strategic partner, which events to sponsor and so much more.
3. Speak To Customers in Their Language: Now that you have this valuable information, you can literally call out, many times in their precise words, why they need to spend some time with you since you’re providing a way to make their lives easier and happier. This also gets into the overall brand experience of your operation so your verbal description of your business, social media bio, website headline, every post card, every Facebook ad, every event, and every experience they have with your business must exhibit the vibe, persona, and feeling that reminds them that your business is the precise location to make their lives more enjoyable. This also gets into customer service but we’ll save that for a future write up.
4. Track Your Marketing: The last step is all about tracking everything you do. If you don’t do this and engrain this habit into your employees’ minds, you will likely end up spending more time and money than you need to. Fortunately, most online marketing tactics have analytics built into them, but even so, having an old school piece of paper at the cash wrap where tallies can be kept on what precisely brought them into your store will be key. If you ran a Facebook ad this month, sponsored an event and gave out coupons, or were part of a strategic partner’s e-newsletter, you want to know what literally brought that actual person through your door.

 
If you don’t mind a little excel, just download our “marketing tracker,” which allows you to be on top of all your marketing efforts, spending and resources, just download it below.
 
And if you need some assistance in getting your marketing program organized so more people walk through your door, check out our services page so you can gain access to a secret weapon for your business.
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Rx Marketing Plan Budgeting Tool
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