Blog Author Marketing Eye Atlanta - Page 48

The problem we often see today is the lack of knowledge businesses have when it comes to knowing their target audience. When asked, 50% of businesses feel that they don’t know their target audience. This is a crippling statistic for the fact that one of the most important aspects of having a successful business is knowing, understanding and engaging your target audience. When businesses understand their target audience they save time and money. This is because they are focusing their marketing efforts on someone who is most likely going to buy their product, therefore they are getting the most value out of their budget.

Step 1: Develop a Brief

Before anything can be accomplished you need to understand the goals of the campaign. Start by asking yourself a series of questions.

More to the point, are you sick of doing your own marketing and not focusing on your business? In every business development meeting I have, I always ask “who’s doing your marketing now?” Often I hear that the founder is performing all if not most of the current marketing activities. Nine times out of ten they are trying to: run the business/grow the business, manage staff, manage payroll, come up with new product ideas, and more, all while doing what they can with marketing. It’s too much for a growing business.

One of the most important things we all strive for in the business world is standing out from the crowd. We want our audience to be able to differentiate us from the competition and, well, we want to be Lady Gaga. Let’s face it, we may not want to wear meat to corporate events but we want to be memorable and instantly recognizable. Lady Gaga has refined that skill to a tee. Here is what you can learn from her:

1. Not listening

As a marketer you have a pretty good understanding of what actually needs to be done for a client, however sometimes marketers go off on their own ideas and ignore what the client wants. STOP!  Remember the number 1 objective should be your client's happiness. That means listening to what the client wants and making compromises when possible.   

Do you have a system in place to organize your customers? Whether they are prospects or existing clients you need to have processes in place for keeping track of vital client information. Confused about what is an CRM system? A CRM system is simple a way to organize your clients and prospective clients. Yes, an excel spreadsheet can be considered a CRM system, but for some an excel spreadsheet isn’t enough.This is when they turn to software such as Salesforce. A CRM system is important for several reasons; organization of contact details, keeping track of the sales pipeline, and making sure everyone is on the same page.

You may have noticed, people live on their devices, I know I feel like I’m missing an arm without my cell phone. 82% of buyers research you online before they take action, be it buying your product or service or calling you to schedule a demo. This means your digital presence has to be up to snuff.

There are lots of great ways to help generate leads through your website. Having someone opt in by giving you their “almighty” email address can be very powerful. Previously we posted about subscribe boxes and pop up email collection apps but there are tons of ways to get someone to opt in and make it fun at the same time. One of my favorites is a quiz.

An organically grown email list is key to a strong online presence. However, asking for someone’s email address can be tricky. I had personal experience requesting email addresses in a store and people treating me like I requested exclusive access to their first born child’s naming rights. Anyway, users are reluctant to just give out their email address when they first step foot on your site. They want to be certain they enjoy your content and find value in it. Below I will include a short list of useful lead gen tools to capture emails but first let’s go over a few polite ways to ask for users’ emails.

Knowing your audience when presenting your business is essential. In order to succeed at selling your company you need to know when to lay it on thick and when to back off. Different scenarios call for different sales pitches. Speaking to someone in the hallway versus a formal business meeting should not be approached in the same manner. It can be a huge turn off to a prospect when you are trying to over sell them right off the bat.

Do you network with industry leaders?

If you are a business struggling to get leads and you answered “never” to the above question then you are in for a big surprise.