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Over the years I have come across a lot of marketing plans that are simply a loose collection of tactics or randomly implemented strategies. A bit of Google Ads, a bit of Facebook, a bit of SEO, a dash of content and throw in a few YouTube ads.
If this sound familiar you’re not alone. People get busy and it just happens. Many businesses I have worked with had been operating on a glued-together strategy. They’re a mess of slapdash marketing tactics, pieced-together software platforms, last-minute promotions, and income roller coasters. These businesses end up trapped on a hamster wheel, racing from tactic to tactic and promotion to promotion, in the “hope” that something will bring in the cash. A lot of time and money can be wasted on marketing that’s led with the “latest” sales, launch, conversion, automation, machine learning… (whatever) sexy tactic.
With this in mind, I have come up with a simple 4 question self-diagnostic. This self-diagnostic will ask some very straightforward, (yet highly revealing) questions designed to instantly detect whether or not your business could – and should – be working harder and be more profitable for you.
It’s just 4 questions…
These questions are meant as “conversation starters”. They are the start of a journey that will improve your marketing strategy today and change how you invest your money in the future.
Question 1. Are You Treating Your Customers As Individuals?
Who is your customer? Are you sure?
If you want to get attention in your marketplace, If you want to establish your self as a leader, you have to know your customer.
Not just their age, gender and where they live but their interests, concerns, objections… and what keeps them up a night.
Harry Browne wrote in the secret to selling…
If the secret of selling is to appeal to the prospect’s motivation, your first task must be to find out what that motivation is. Most sales are lost because the salesman presented his product before he knew what motivated his prospect.
When you understand your customer you’ll know where to find them, what to say to them and what offers they will value.
It’s estimated that the average person is exposed to 5000 marketing messages a day. In such a cluttered and noisy marketplace the best way to stand out is to create a personalised experience for each prospect.
The response to generic “one size fits all” marketing is plummeting while the response and conversion rates to personalised messaging are skyrocketing.
Modern-day websites can be personalised by day and time, by the campaigns that drove prospects to a page, by the content they have consumed, by the goals they have completed and by the products they have purchased.
Your website should take people on a journey. Asking questions, providing answers, and in the end, accomplishing your goal – Whether it’s increased conversions, more sales, better ROI, or higher profits.
Question 2. Are You Buying New Customers Sustainably?
To answer this question properly you need to know what a customer is worth to you over the long haul. Businesses that do not keep customer lists and track sales never realise the “cumulative net worth” of a repeat customer. They concentrate on making the first sale… and then move on.
Huge Mistake. Just having a good sales back-end can double every single sale. And having a back-end to the next sale can quadruple profit. Over a couple of years, that one customer you brought in could be worth many, many times what you originally thought.
This means you should be willing to spend a little bit to find a new customer. Many businesses are content to even lose money bringing a new customer in … because they know they’ll make a huge profit on multiple subsequent sales.
Look at the big picture, over time. Until you can buy customers sustainably you don’t have a business.
Question 3. Do You Know Your Results?
Do you know the results of your marketing campaigns? Ask yourself, what is the profit from online campaigns you’re running right now or have run in the past? If I sat down in front of you and asked what each campaign brought in for you in terms of enquiries, customers and dollars could you tell me?
You can measure and improve everything. Get help to set up systems to capture the right marketing data. You will make discoveries that enable you to make better decisions, better allocate resources, create better marketing messages, and grow your business without necessarily having to increase your marketing budget.
Question 4. Have You Systemised Your Marketing?
This question comes last because you should never systemise anything until you’re sure it works. Systemisation will not solve bad marketing, it will only help you roll out bad marketing more efficiently.
Most businesses have a system for how they deliver a service or how they produce a product, yet so few have a marketing system.
A system that defines how you attract leads, how you implement a thorough follow up, and how you fully monetise every lead and customer.
A system by definition means that it is capable of delivering consistently predictable results. This means you are not advertising or doing prospecting work wondering what the results may be; you know in advance that when you invest a certain amount of money into marketing you know what you can expect to get back.
Start by identifying touchpoints before, during and after a sale and then think about ways of automating the steps to complete your goals at each stage.
Did You Find Any Gaps That Need Fixing?
Once you start, you will probably never stop improving in each of these areas.
If you want to build a solid and secure business for the future then take the time to answer each question.