The 3 Stages of an Impactful Marketing Strategy
Marketing should not waste your money.
Marketing should be an investment with an epic return.
Yet most marketing fails, leaving business owners feeling:
Stressed and frustrated
Stuck and held back
Insecure about their products
The 2 Reasons Most Marketing Fails
1) Marketing is Random
We need to sell more. Let’s do paid ads.
No, social media ads will waste your time and money.
Why?
Because running random ads without a strategy doesn’t work.
What is the specific desired outcome of this ad?
How does this outcome contribute to the company's goals?
What messaging is this ad communicating?
Who is the desired audience of this ad?
Why should this audience care?
Effective marketing is not random and is not one-size-fits-all.
Effective marketing is strategic.
2) Marketing is Not Measured
We post on social media 3-5x per week and send weekly email newsletters. Why aren't we getting enough leads?
Social posts and emails in isolation are not good marketing.
People don't want more content in their feeds and inboxes.
They seek answers to a question or a solution to a problem.
Do you know the questions and problems of your audience?
Do you know how your posts and emails are performing?
Which posts are getting the highest engagement?
Which emails are getting opened?
Which topics your audience is interested in?
Without performance analytics, you are only hoping for things to work out.
You have no idea what your audience wants.
Effective marketing is not blind.
Effective marketing is data-driven.
Your 3-Phase Strategic Plan
Phase 1: Communicate
People don't buy what they don't understand.
A confusing message will turn clients away.
Does your audience understand:
The problem your products solve?
What's at stake if they don't solve the problem?
What success looks like after using your products?
How to buy your products?
Most companies don't know how to talk about what they do.
As a result, they confuse and turn away the people who need them.
|| Action Item 1:
Craft a clear brand message that addresses the problem your audience is facing and positions your products and services as the solution.
Your brand message needs to include these talking points:
Problem
Stakes
Solution
Transformation
Call to Action
Phase 2: Engage
Now that you have a clear and compelling brand message, you need to engage your audience with this message across your communication channels:
1. Website
Your website is your 24/7 sales representative.
You have 5-7 seconds to get visitors' attention before they hop off.
If visitors don't understand your website, they will leave and, most likely, not return for a second attempt to understand.
Your homepage needs to articulate clearly to visitors:
What you do
How it enhances their lives
How they can get your solution
|| Action Item #2
Optimize your website homepage and landing pages with your clear brand message
2. Lead Magnet
Do you have a way of staying in touch with people who visit your website but are not ready yet to buy your products and services?
If not, you need a lead magnet.
An effective lead magnet needs to:
Offer high value to your audience.
Qualify your audience.
Positions you as a trusted expert.
Collects email addresses.
Examples of high-value lead magnets
PDF Downloadable: 5 Signs You Need a New Roof
Case Study: How Our Revenue Doubled In 6 Months
Free Workshop.
Free Trial.
Free Sample.
|| Action Item #3
Create a high-value lead magnet
3. Emails
When people give you their email addresses to get your lead magnet, they tell you they are interested in what you do and have to say.
This is a great time to engage them with a short email campaign that:
Addresses the problem you solve.
Introduces the solution you offer.
Calls them to take action.
A couple of things:
Make sure to get consent before sending marketing and sales emails.
Don't send too many sales emails. Just a few at the beginning then pause your sales campaign and send a nurture campaign focusing on building trust and relationships.
3 Story-Driven Examples of High-Converting Sales Emails
1) Conflict Resolution
Address the problem, stakes, and your solution.
2) Transformation Story
Share a testimonial or a case study showing how you helped a client succeed.
3) Call to Adventure
Call your audience to start their transformational journey with you by taking the next step:
Book a Consultation
Buy Now
Join Today
|| Action Item #4
Write a sales sequence to send to people who download your lead magnet.
4. Social Media
Leverage social media to boost your brand awareness and expand your reach.
The key to succeeding on social media is consistency.
You need three things:
Show up
Provide value
Engage
And you need to do all three consistently.
Consistency doesn't mean you have to post every day. You don't.
You just need to establish and meet an expectation with your audience.
Building an audience takes time and patience.
Here is a simple social media plan to get started:
Set clear social media goals that align with your business goals.
Choose one (1) social platform that your audience is on.
Pick 3-5 content pillars/themes.
Create one (1) long-form content (Video, blog, podcast, etc).
Repurpose your long-form content into short-form.
Create a content calendar.
Schedule your posts in advance.
Engage with other people's posts.
Stick to a realistic schedule and rhythm.
Track the metrics that matter: Reach, Engagement, Clicks*
*Likes and follows are cool, but they don't tell you much about the success of your business.
|| Action Item #5
Create a social media strategy for your business.
Phase 3: Convert
A clear compelling message and communication campaign will help your target audience understand and remember your business.
They will know what you sell and how it helps them thrive.
But they still need one more thing to buy from you.
A compelling sales campaign.
What makes a sales campaign compelling?
An attractive offer
A simple buying process
A strong call-to-action
An Attractive Offer
An attractive offer has one goal:
To make people feel silly NOT accepting it.
So what makes an offer attractive?
It creates a clear path to a desired outcome.
It is packed with value.
It creates urgency with exclusive limited bonuses.
It offers affordable price packages and plans.
People need to feel comfortable and excited to buy from you.
They need to feel that buying from you is an investment not an expense.
An investment that will give them so much value in return.
A Simple Buying Process.
If people have to jump through lots of hoops to get your product, they will not buy.
You need to give them a clear and simple process to become your customers.
Ideally, you want to keep your process to 3 steps (maximum 5 if you must).
Why three?
Because that's how great stories are constructed:
Beginning, middle, end.
Problem, solution, success.
Introduction, body, conclusion.
Here is an example from a Software Company
Step 1: Book a Free Demo
Step 2: Select Your Plan
Step 3: Become a Trusted Industry Expert
The last step should be the buyer's 'desired outcome.'
A Strong Call-to-Action
Believe it or not, if you don't call people to action, they won't take action.
If you don't ask them to buy, they won't buy.
People need to be guided on where to go and what to do.
First, let's look at some BAD call-to-actions most businesses use:
Get Started (With what?)
Learn More (About what?)
Contact Us (Why?)
These are all bad call-to-actions because they are vague and leave people confused not confident about buying.
Most people don't want to do more work to buy a solution for a problem they are having.
They don't want to "learn more." They want to get a solution.
Here are examples of GREAT call-to-actions:
Buy Now
Book a Demo
Register Today
Why are these calls-to-actions effective?
Because they give buyers a clear direction and expectations.
There is no guessing or confusion.
A strong clear call-to-action will help you close more deals.
Launch Your Sales Campaign
So what to do with your offer, process, and call-to-action?
You use them in your sales campaign:
On your product landing pages on your website.
In your downloadable lead magnets.
On your webinars.
In your sales emails.
In your social media ads.
|| Action Item #6
Launch Your Sales Campaign.**
** Your sales campaign should be limited to shorter sales windows monthly or quarterly. You should run your nurture campaign longer than your sales campaigns so you don't end up overwhelming and losing prospects with too much sales messaging.
TL;DR: Let's Review
Marketing should not waste your money. It should be an investment with an epic return.
Most marketing fails because it's random and unmeasured.
Effective marketing is strategic and data-driven.
The 3-stages of impactful marketing: Communicate, Engage, Convert.
Action Item 1: Craft a clear and compelling brand message.
Action Item 2: Optimize your website and landing pages.
Action Item 3: Create a high-value lead magnet.
Action Item 4: Launch alternating cycles of nurture and sales email campaigns.
Action Item 5: Create a strong social media strategy.
Action Item 6: Launch a sales campaign.
Download your free guide Brand Launch Checklist
Question For You:
Which of these phases is your biggest roadblock right now?
If you could fix one thing about your marketing, what would it be? And how would that affect your business?
Follow the action items in this article to uncover and fix any gaps in your marketing funnel.
Ready to Create Your Strategic Marketing Plan?
Download your free guide here. Brand Launch Checklist
