Do you have a marketing strategy?
If you talk with 20 different successful entrepreneurs and asked about their marketing strategy, you’d get 20 different approaches. One of the biggest myths surrounding marketing is there is some magical strategy that works for every business. The truth is, every business and entrepreneur is different. To become one of those six-figure business owners you admire, you’ll need to follow their lead and carve out your own marketing strategy.
While techniques vary, highly successful entrepreneurs followed similar patterns in their journey to discover what worked bet for their business. These five tips serve as the perfect starting point to create the best marketing strategy for you.
Study Your Clients
Who is your target client base? What marketing mediums do they prefer? For instance, if you’re targeting younger business owners, social media is probably your best tool. If you’re targeting business owners in their 60’s or 70’s, they may prefer more traditional marketing material such as pamphlets or face-to-face meetings.
The more you know about your clients, the better you can cater your marketing to their needs. After all, the key to getting new clients is to think like them.
Trial And Error
No matter who you are, you will make marketing mistakes. Every entrepreneur has attempted certain strategies and gotten very little out of it. The result ? they studied the results, talked to clients and discovered what went wrong. Perhaps you tried to use Facebook, but didn’t gain any new contacts. While Facebook is great, it’s geared more towards B2C businesses versus B2B.
Take the time to try out strategies and evolve them based on their varying success rates. From there, you can create your own custom techniques.
Be Consistent
It’s easy to get impatient when you’re marketing your business. If you don’t see results immediately, you move on to the next thing. While it’d be amazing to have your marketing content go viral overnight, the odds of that happening are slim.
Instead, pick several different marketing methods and use them consistently for a month or more. Several months are best to determine their true effectiveness for your business. Think of it like a diet, if you don’t stick to it, you’ll never see results.
Learn From Others
You don’t have to know everything. Entrepreneurs can’t be expected to understand every nuance of business. Every single success story built their own strategies based upon advice from others. Find others in your niche and study how they market. While you’ll still need to tweak their techniques for your own business, you’ll save time and money by learning from those who came before you.
Make It Personal
No matter what your end strategy is, make it personal. One mistake many entrepreneurs make is having marketing that’s dry and overly promotional. This is especially true with B2B marketers. People respond to friendly. Personalize your approach with each new potential client and you’ll be amazed at the results. It makes businesses feel like you truly value them, which leads to an increase in clients and even word of mouth marketing from happy customers.
Your Strategy, Your Rules
You’ll need to continuously change your marketing strategy throughout the years to keep up with changing trends. However, these tips will always help you find the right marketing mix to keep new clients coming to you. If you need help, schedule a call with us to discuss your needs.