For those of us you are ready to get the show on the road, here are the 3 best steps to marketing that actually work. Marketing is all about preparation and evaluation. We prepare content, fliers, events, social media posts, and we send all of it out into the universe and evaluate what comes back. You will find thousands of articles and videos and lectures about marketing, But consuming all of that is worth nothing if you aren’t implementing it. Don’t over think it. These steps are all you need to get started.
#1 Find a Watering Hole
Just like a hunter, you need to know who you’re hunting and where they go to find water. Where they go to find relief from their pain. Seth Godin once said “Don’t find customers for your products find products for your customers.” Your job is to first find the community you are here to serve and learn from them what their pains are. A good place to start is people you know, a better place to start is Facebook groups. Someone has probably already built your client base on Facebook. Get in there and start interacting with the community. Share valuable information and build honest relationships.
#2 Build a Funnel
Sales funnels are not new but for those who need a review, this if for you. A sales funnel is the journey you create for your customers to help them easily build a relationship with you, your brand, and your product. Jim Rohn said “If you make a sale, you can make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service in a customer, you can make a fortune.” Take the time to cultivate relationships with your customers.
The sales funnel model is based on the scale of intimacy. The scale of Intimacy is a list of steps humans take as they become more close to each other. The steps range from eye contact to kissing all the way to an intimate relationship. If you skip steps, it feels like assault. We don’t want to assault our customers. We want to slowly build a lasting relationship with them. In other words we want to build a healthy funnel to introduce them to our product.
Have your customers commit to smaller “relationship” steps before you ask them to marry you/buy your core product. The steps in the sales funnel are Free, Nurture, Low Cost, Core Product, and Premium Product. You can learn more about each of these steps in our upcoming retreat.
For each step, document the conversations you have with people. Those will become your marketing scripts. You can always update, improve and expand them.
#3 Do The Thing
Stop waiting for the right time or the right thing to say. Get your face out there and start inviting. Document your feedback and adjust when needed. Be grateful for rejection and learn from it. No one else is going to make this happen. It starts with you. Fail often, fail fast and keep going.
There is a whole community of women who were once where you are and they want to support you and help you get the resources you need. If you’d like to learn more about what we do, come to our next Online Connection Group meeting. We host them every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month.
