The Secrets of Great Marketing – Marketing Magic Tip

We at Global.Media have been in the advertising and marketing consultancy business for over four years and counting. Of course, we have made mistakes, exceeded expectations and provided an ordinary service to more than one hundred and seventy small and medium-sized businesses in that time. Our experiences have given us the best place to learn what works as well as allowed us to pick up a few tips and tricks along the way. We want to share our knowledge with our current and prospective clients. So we thought why not create a video series which will include a wide range of tips!

Welcome to Marketing Magic Tips – an unpolished weekly one to three-minute video offering insights into how to get better results from your business’ marketing spend.

So you have put all you have into identifying an issue for people and creating the solution they will love. Now you must get your product or service to them. Who wouldn’t want to build a profitable business that stands out from other companies that provide the same products or services? You now need an effective marketing campaign. In the digital economy that we all live in, how can you ensure your campaign (s) will work; that they will generate the revenues on which you will build a profitable enterprise? In today’s Marketing Magic Tip, we turn the spotlight on the fundamentals of selling for business!

Most businesses are familiar with traditional offline marketing strategies (for example, print, networking or radio). However, I’d like to believe you also appreciate the importance of including digital or online marketing techniques to your marketing mix. After all, all of your customers are looking for solutions online, whether that is on Google Search, social media or another.

Start with a strategy and plan

You need to more than sell them your product or service. Today, the most successful companies will often provide their customer’s value beyond the sale. Posting articles on a topic they are interested in or keeping your blog up to date that has relevant and helpful information are good places to start. You must communicate that you understand your prospective client’s situation then how your product or service adds real value to their lives and solves their problem.

A marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach to planning with the fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.

Your marketing strategy is vital for any business to ensure your efforts to attract customers are not haphazard and inefficient. Developing a marketing plan, helps you build your product and services and ensuring that your business meets the needs of your target market. Great marketing helps your customers understand why your product or service is better than, or different from your competitors. A properly-executed plan also helps you reach your target market and thereby boosts your customer base and revenue.

Creating a marketing plan requires research, time and commitment, but once done right it can significantly contribute to your business success. So it is well worth putting effort into producing your roadmap that identifies your target customers and how you will get your services in front of them. Without customers, your business would likely not survive. Your business needs to understand what value marketing will bring if you successfully attract and retain loyal clients. Individuals would probably not buy from your company if they don’t know who you are, what you are selling and why they should choose you over your competition.

What goes into a marketing plan?

One of the main benefits of developing a marketing plan is that it helps you to focus on how best to use your human, technological and financial resources and plan for your business growth. Writing and researching for a comprehensive marketing plan gives you a chance to:

• Identify your target market and understand how your product or service meets their needs.
• Identify your competitors and what your target customers think about your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Establish opportunities in the market this will help to focus your message, choose the right marketing techniques and identify value-added elements you can add to your offering.
• Position your brand, products and services so that your target market sees your business as better than, or different from, the competition.
• Plan a fulfilment process in your business to get the product or service to your clients.
• Set specific, measurable goals and timeframes for your marketing and promotional activities.
• Map out a strategy to reach your target audience, including the messages, channels, funnels, tools and staff you will use. Having clear numbers at the onset helps to manage
  performance and resources toward achieving your goals.

What happens if you don’t have a workable marketing plan?

If your business doesn’t have a working marketing strategy, there will be plenty of activity and little productivity. Not having a marketing plan will mean that you will end up bouncing from task to task, likely to not complete anything to the level that you want. Additionally, as a result of this, you could end up missing many potentially lucrative opportunities.

It is no longer the case that ‘if you build it, they will come’! Those days are long gone because consumers have so much choice to meet almost every desire. Furthermore, a lot of products and services vying for their attention 24/7/365. To get a picture of the ultimate nightmare scenario, take a moment to think about how you will feel if no one knows about your fantastic solution to his or her problem and therefore can’t buy it.

Client reviews are another key aspect of effective marketing today. You look at them, we look at them. So feedback matters! Find out why and how they work

Testimonials

Trust is one of the most critical aspects of the customer experience. Customers will not do business with a company they can’t trust. “With trust, you’ll have customers (or clients) for life. Without trust, you may as well pack up and go home”.

According to a Concerto Marketing Group and Research Now survey, when customers believe a brand, 83 per cent will recommend a trusted company to others, and 82 per cent will continue to use that brand frequently. While people are not likely to talk about you going the extra mile for them, you’ll undoubtedly hear from the disgruntled ones if you failed to make a deadline or delivered a product that didn’t do what you said.

Earning a customer’s trust begins with giving excellent service. Ask yourself this, how would you want to be treated if you were a customer? The reality is that service your offer should come naturally, instead of being strategically planned.

With small businesses, success is all about relationships, relationships, relationships! Never underestimate the value of a loyal, repeat customer. Keep customers coming back for more so that they can bring their friends next time. Only by taking the time to get to know people and their circumstances (a.k.a. build a relationship with them), will they understand how your product or service can make a difference to them? Get this right and they will be coming to you to buy! You will never have to sell again!

Always aim to provide exceptional service; then you can allocate less time correcting costly errors. You want to strive for responsiveness, timeliness and exceeded expectations.

Testimonials and reviews are a great way to build trust. So planning a process to collect and share genuine reviews of your products and services will go a long way in determining the success of your marketing campaigns. According to statistics from Infinity, 63% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a site that offers customer reviews. Consumers that are unfamiliar with a brand or service are more likely to use customer reviews to make their initial judgment about you and your business. Before a consumer even decides to purchase from a brand, they are likely to search for reviews first – you and I do it!

Display both positive and negative feedback – the important thing is to provide authentic feedback. I highly recommend investing in unscripted testimonial videos featuring real clients because they tend to have the most substantial impact because potential buyers get a richer insight into how your business works, they can judge if the reviewer is like them (in characteristics or issues, for example ) and potential buyers can see that it is genuine feedback. Take it from me, we all understand that you can’t always please everyone. When consumers research a brand, they view both positive and negative reviews. Consumers want to know if a product or service is worth the value put on it and if it works as promised by the company. These tactics are essential to keep in mind when marketing consumer reviews for improved reputation and increased revenues.

Moving forward

The right marketing strategies help to get your products and services into the hands of the people who want them. Developing a marketing plan that includes online and offline components provides a clear route to reach your target market. When businesses execute their plan effectively, the impact on your bottom line can be incredible.
At Global.Media, we have worked with hundreds of businesses in many different sectors to become famous to their ideal clients and sell more. Get in touch if you want expert marketing support today.

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