Stuart from Colorado had talked to a number of marketing firms and gotten estimates for designing and printing his marketing materials and building a web site for his business producing promotional cds. One firm quoted $100,000 to build his web site alone. He sensed something was missing or wrong, but couldn't put his finger on it, so he called me.I asked Stuart how
various marketing pieces and activities were going to work together to help him generate leads. I asked him what his marketing strategy was. He drew a blank. The marketing firms he had talked to had provided detailed information on what they were going to produce for him, but none had discussed a coordinated plan to generate leads and sales.
Marketing without an integrated strategy is like playing poker, tennis or football without knowing rules, keeping score or having a game plan. You could put in a lot of time, energy, and capital, and still end up losing game. Has this happened to you?
W.inning at business is same as any other game, whether your objective is to beat competition or just to be best in your industry. To be successful, you need to know rules of game, have a clear strategy and track your progress.
The Rules for Winning at Marketing and Sales Here are some of most essential rules to follow to succeed at marketing your business.
1. Written goals are motivating and can help you succeed. Define your objectives for revenue, lead generation and conversion rates for year and then break those down for each quarter. Commit them to writing. Next list weekly and daily tasks you and/or your employees need to accomplish in order to reach your goals.
2. The more qualified prospects you can attract, more clients you'll have. A clearly defined lead generation strategy will bring in new prospects you need to be profitable.
3. It's easier to convert prospects to clients when they are looking to solve a problem. It's much harder to convert people who don't have a current need or concern, even if they are members of your target market. Instead of seeking prospects, prompt prospects to look for you.
4. You'll get a better response from marketing messages that are focused on client problems and concerns, not on your credentials or descriptions of products and processes. If you're not getting response you'd like from your mailings, ads or web site, take a second look at your marketing message. A few changes in your marketing copy can increase response by factors of ten or more.
