I heard a marketer once say, “Whatever business you think you’re in, you’re not.”
The sentence alone made me stop and listen.
He then followed that with, “I want you to forget everything you think your business is right at the present moment and shift your perspective to this thought:
You’re not in the [fill in the blank] business, you’re in the business of marketing and sales.”
I couldn’t help but think how true that statement really was.
- Marketing attracts prospects
- Without marketing, prospects don’t know you exist
- Without prospects, no one can buy what your business has to offer
- When you’re not selling what you have to offer, what you really have is a hobby, not a business.
All too often Entrepreneurs fall victim to the misconception of “Build it and they will come” ...
Which could quite possibly be a big contributor to the 9 out of 10 businesses that fail within the first 10 years of being in business.
Did you know that out of the 10% which survive, another 9 out of 10 go out of business? That means LESS than 1% of businesses that launch ever survive a 20 year time period.
Yikes.
I’ve seen it time and time again … Someone comes up with a great idea. They want to sell it online so they throw a funnel page up there, run some ads to drive some traffic to it, and VOILA! People buy and sales come streaming through the pipeline! Instant business. Instant success!
If it only worked that way! Heck, if that was the case, I wouldn’t be writing this email, I’d be building funnel after funnel.
What’s missing in most businesses’ marketing are what I call the 4 R’s:
Reach
Resonance
Relationships
Results
Reach is all about the WHO and the HOW. Who is your ideal client and audience and how are you going to reach them?
Identifying and getting to know who your ideal clients are two of the most important elements to the success of your marketing efforts. I would even go as far as to say, it’s one of the most important elements to the success of constructing your Infinite Business.
Who do you want to attract? But also ask yourself, who do you want to repel?
The better you know your ideal client, the easier it will be to create a message that resonates and speaks directly to them.
Did I mention it also makes it easier to find them?
The HOW is the vehicle used to reach your ideal clients and prospects. These days there are unlimited ways to reach your audience… Social media, direct mail, tv, etc.
If you don’t know where your ideal prospects reside, a great place to start is by asking your current clients!!
Tip: Get crystal clear on WHO you are targeting and HOW you are going to get in front of them. You may have the best product or service out there, but if your ideal prospects don’t know what you have to offer, you don’t exist.
In summary ... The best marketer wins.
The best marketer also understands the importance of resonating with their ideal prospects and clients.
In the my article I talked all about branding. I don’t care who you are, or what you sell...Every company needs a voice. Every company needs a way to showcase what their value is and what they stand for.
When your message and positioning (branding) resonates at a high level with your ideal prospects and clients you can ultimately increase conversion rates, encourage repeat purchases, and ALSO inspire unsolicited referrals from raving fans.
You know you’ve nailed your message and positioning when your resonance is directly reflecting back to you like a mirror.
When your clients are doing the marketing for you.
This is a direct result of connection. Connection is created through building that relationship.
Imagine you’re on a first date. You’ve just finished dinner at a nice restaurant. You’ve had a great conversation so far, so you order dessert. You’re now on to telling this person what you do for a living which then leads to some crazy phone call you had with one of your clients earlier that day.
Things get a bit more personal and you get on the topic of your cat, and how you came to adopt her from a shelter in San Jose years ago while you were there for a seminar.
There are some laughs and smiles and deep down you’re feeling pretty confident. “This is going really well!” you’re thinking. So you decide now’s the time, and you look them straight in the eye, smile, and ask them to marry you.
After your date realizes you're serious, panic sets in (you can see it clearly on their face) and their body language now indicates they are pretty uncomfortable (if they haven’t already made up some excuse to get up and slip out the back door).
Not exactly the right approach was it?
So why do so many of us treat our prospects as if they want to commit to us after just the first touch point?
We somehow expect they will just hand over their money for what we have to offer after investing just a fraction of time with us …
They don’t know us, so why do we expect them to trust us …Furthermore, buy from us?
Dating to find a marriage partner is no different than building relationships with potential ideal clients. The same elements apply.
It’s building trust.
It’s creating value.
It’s understanding your ideal client’s needs.
Gary Vaynerchuk recently put out a video and made this comment:
“The longer you can go just adding value to your clients or potential clients without asking them to buy something, the bigger your backend will become”.
Start building assets and start leading with value.
Leading with value means doing what you can to add value to someone’s life before money ever exchanges hands.
Leading with value results in consistency and predictability, and indirectly creates a BIGGER impact.
Value creators (value assets) build trust and rapport with your audience. They are the stepping stones to building relationships with your clients and potential clients.
Value creators immediately exceed expectations, and they also serve to disqualify anyone who is NOT your ideal client.
Last but not least is Results.
Results is often by-passed when it comes to marketing, yet it's one of the biggest drivers and accelerators to growing and scaling.
Ever hear of the phrase, “Everything measured improves”?
Couldn’t be more true in life and in business.
If you can’t measure something to determine the results, you can’t possibly get better at it.
Ever try to lose weight without stepping on a scale to measure your results?
How about trying to improve your golf game... How hard would this be to accomplish if you didn’t keep score?
You get the idea.
Marketing is no different. If you can’t measure your results ...
- You don’t know how effective your efforts really are
AND
- You can’t improve, manage, grow or scale
… And measuring results doesn’t just apply to marketing!
It applies to every area and moving part in your business.
Marketing may not be the only business you are in, but it sure is a huge accelerator in growing and scaling your business for generations to come.
What are the other accelerators to growing and scaling your business to the 7 and 8-figure mark?
Branding, Sales and Scaling.
ALL 4 Business Accelerators can build your Infinite Business.
And all 4 Accelerators are included in the curriculum for our InfiniteBusiness Circle.
Imagine gaining access to proven business building strategies, expert marketing and sales insight and tactical know-how directly from a team who has actually accomplished what you want to doin your business … multiple times over.
If you can answer YES to both of these questions...
Have you achieved traction in your business, yet still can’t seem to reach the 7 or 8-figure mark?
Do you have a killer team behind you that can help you execute exactly what it will take to break through that invisible ceiling in your business?
See if you qualify for our Infinite Business Circle …
Simply fill out our 2-minute application and we’ll then set up a time to chat.
To your success,
-David
funnel marketing expert
