Marketing response leaving you flat?
Buy low, sell high! Use a consistent look and feel for marketing!
Sell benefits not features! Keep in touch with existing customers!
It costs 6x as much to get new customers as it does to keep old ones!
Know your target market! Include a clear ‘Call To Action’!
People generally buy from people that they Know, Like and Trust!
Most business owners I know are really smart people – they’ve read a lot of books, they’re likely to have a business degree or even an MBA. In general, people know what they’re supposed to do when it comes to marketing their business. There aren’t a whole lot of new ‘silver bullets’ that they haven’t heard about.
But when push comes to shove and it’s been another long day and you’re not selling nearly as much stuff as you think you should be selling, it can be hard to shake things up and leverage all of the stuff you know. Sometimes you need a different perspective!
Momentum is great – until it’s gone!
The first issue that most business owners face is that it’s really difficult to change – especially after you’ve gotten established and you’ve had a marketing campaign that’s worked in the past.
Maybe you went to a lot of effort when you were first launching your business (or a product). You developed a thorough marketing plan, clearly identified the target market you were going after and tested different messages until you came up with something that worked.
Then you stuck like glue to that formula and moved on to fighting fires somewhere else in the business. Time passes and gradually your marketing gets old. Maybe a competitor started copying you and diluted the message, maybe the marketplace changed and your message didn’t. Maybe your prospects just got tired of seeing the same thing from you and moved on.
You would totally buy your product!
The second big issue is that you are too close to the problem (and you know everything). You know why your product is great – you also know why people should buy it. You’d buy it and it should be perfectly obvious to everyone else what a great deal it is.
However…you’re not your customer (probably not really anything like them at all) and because you know so much about your product, it’s next to impossible for you to step into your target’s shoes. Unless you really make an effort, it’s very difficult to step into your customer’s shoes and figure out why they buy (or don’t buy).
Time to try something different
The good news is that because you’re really smart and you do know a lot about marketing and your product, there are lots of opportunities for a turn around…if you’re open to some different ideas and perspectives.
Here are some suggestions to think about:
1. Go to some training (I happen to be doing a marketing workshop in a couple of weeks – I’m just sayin’).
2. Build a regular marketing review into your schedule – depending on your product, that could be quarterly or maybe longer, but you should review your Return On Investment regularly and create some totally new campaign ideas a couple of times a year. Maybe focus on a different product or a totally different angle.
3. Find somebody to talk to (and more importantly listen to) about your marketing efforts. Get together with friends, a Peer Group Advisory Board, an industry group – somebody that can give you a different perspective and candid feedback.
4. Keep an open mind and a positive outlook. Yes you know everything and you know that something didn’t work 2 years ago, but that doesn’t mean that a similar strategy won’t work now.
Marketing can be really challenging, but it can also be a lot of fun. Maybe it’s time to shake some things up and try something different. What do you think might work for your marketing? Share your thoughts here.
Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach