What’s the Best Marketing?

I was asked recently “What is the most cost-effective way of marketing our business?”

The short answer is to go back to your existing clients and say, “Hi, you loved the xxxx you bought. Just letting you know we also have yyyy and as and existing client here is the bundle deal we will do for you.” The commonly spouted figure is that it is 5 times cheaper to sell to an existing client than it is to get a new one. Most of us will have heard that before and still not act on it. So in terms of sales, I would start with existing clients.

I am sensing that the question was focussed on getting NEW clients, so let me address that. There are so many ways to choose and so many others to get sidetracked with. I also love how you said “cost-effective” and not cheapest. There are too many people who look for “cheap” without measuring the results and cost effectiveness. Social media streams (free outlets) are clogged with people saying, “buy my stuff, buy my stuff, BUY MY STUUUUFFFF!” All they are doing is screaming desperation, annoying their fans and not getting the sales they want.

So to answer the questions, marketing is not about a “Way” but about a “Campaign” so you actually need to shift how you look at it.

Start with the very basics. Who is my target market? What do they do, where do they live, what do they eat, where do the shop, what do they drive, what do they wear, how big is their family? Get incredibly specific. Too many home based businesses think, “I can sell my stuff to EVERYONE!” No you can’t. Even if they need it, EVERYONE won’t buy it. So get specific. Who is your ideal target market client?

Now you know who they are you will know where they hang out the most and where they will be open to marketing most. You can then build a campaign around that.
The campaign is made up of different touch points or steps to take action. The goal of the campaign is to get additional sales. Everything you do in the campaign is focussed around how do you get the prospect to buy from you. It may not be a direct sale, it may be get them to take action into your sales funnel that will ultimately end in a sale. It is important to maintain the focus that the intent of your campaign is ultimately to increase sales.

Here is an example. Let’s say your business is Freddy’s Family Photos. You take family photos of younger families. Typically mum, dad and kids under the age of 10. So your target market is families, not singles, not seniors, not couples, not weddings but families. If the other work comes to you then you do it, but it is not the work you seek out. You like to do work in your local area, so you really are marketing to young families with kids under the age of 10 that live within 10km of your home based business.

As part of Freddy’s marketing campaign, they do the following:
1) Sponsor the local Little Athletics by taking action shot photos of the finals. Families can then get free copies of some of the shots by entering their details.
2) The email address sends the photos (with Freddy’s water mark on it) as well as subscribing the family to the newsletter.
3) A week later they receive a letter with a small poster on regular paper. The poster is an image in the local park with the image of parents and kids blanked out so it can be coloured in (it alsy has Freddy’s logo and contact details on the bottom) – There is an accompanying message saying “Hope you enjoyed the Little Aths photo. Here is an image for your kids to draw in your family. We would love to see the finished results on our Facebook Page”
4) 2 Weeks later send an email with a message saying “We love kids art but sometimes it doesn’t catch the situation like a photo does. Here are some recent photos we have done and what the families have said about working with us. (insert 2 testimonials and some photos). If you would like to know more about having some family photos done, simply hit replay and one of our team will be in touch.”
5) 2 weeks later send another email – As one of our Little Aths family, we would like to give you this special offer xxxxx. Simply hit reply and one of our team will be in touch to make an appointment

This is a simple example of a targeted marketing campaign. As well as the marketing campaign, Freddy also sends out a monthly newsletter with stories of families getting their photo’s take, Photography tips and testimonials. This newsletter is a constant reminder to the recipients of what is available without saying “Buy my stuff!” It also adds value in terms of some tips, stories of the families (including when photo shoots go bad) so there is some entertainment. Every now and again it may contain a special offer.

The campaign works on building trust with prospect by slowly introducing yourself and what you do. It builds awareness by providing desired images with branding on it. It also showcases the quality of Freddy’s work.
The cost? One day every couple of months taking photos at Little Aths. Some postage and printing for each prospect (no more than $5 per prospect) and some time managing the emails and database. Not a great deal in comparison to the value of a photo shoot.

By the way, there are other business where this approach WOULD NOT WORK!! It is centred around the target market. You need to appeal to them in a way that inspires them into action.

So your action is to define the following:

Who is my target market?
Where do they hang out and what do they like to do?
How can I get them on my database?
What 5 to 7 step process can I put in place to know me, like me and trust me?
What is the irresistible offer I can make to them?

Love to hear any thoughts?

Enjoy the day

Warwick