We recently talked about the power of increasing sales from current customers. Once you have implemented that your next step is to develop a marketing process for attracting new customers.
There are tons of books out there on the subject. But they can basically all be summarized in the following five steps:
- Develop a great answer to the following question: Out of all the options the prospect has to solving their problem, including doing nothing, why should they buy from you? Without this answer, any marketing campaign will yield mediocre results at best.
- Determine the ideal customer. Who is most likely to buy this product? You should be able to paint a verbal picture of your ideal customer and be able to answer:
- What motivates them to buy?
- What problem are they trying to solve?
- What are they most worried about?
- What are their hopes and dreams and how can your product help them reach them?
- What else should I know about them?
- What is the best way to reach them? Can I get their email, cell phone number, address, telephone number? Do I know where they hang out, what shows they watch, what radio stations they listen to, and what websites they visit?
- Plan and create a campaign.
- Write the advertising copy.
- Determine what media will be the most efficient and effective way to reach them.
- Make a commitment to stick with the campaign for at least six months.
- Measure results and test against this benchmark. Adjust as required.
- Automate the process so that it occurs even when you are busy.
- Outline and plan the follow-up process that will occur after the sale. This is where the real money-making opportunity is. Most of your marketing cost is in getting the customer to make the first purchase. After that your marketing costs drop dramatically. Your main goal should be to make this the first of many more sales!