Business Marketing Strategy That Doubles Your
Results Through 5 Simple Questions
by Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Many small business owners, remember small is
defined as companies with under 500 employees, fail
to market themselves and consequently continue to
lose market share. The inability to increase sales
revenue goes beyond the expertise of your sales staff
and is directly tied into your marketing plan.
First, do you have a marketing plan to deliver your
marketing message? How are you marketing yourself
and your business? Even if you are a Single Office
Home Office Business (SOHO) or home based
business, you need a marketing plan. Obviously if
you are a larger organization, you understand the
value of having such a plan. HINT: If you don’t
have a plan or have been procrastinating about
writing a plan, STOP right now. Find; hire someone
to help you write that plan. These plans should be
directly tied to your strategic plan of Who Does What By When within your business
plan. Read about where to begin at
www.processspecialist.com/articles/DoYouKnowandPlanforthe3RsforBusiness.pdf
Second, does your marketing message interrupt your prospect or suspect? What
makes your message stop your prospects’ behaviors to want to further listen to what
you have to say? Look to those now infamous Super Bowl commercials or even the everchanging
ones on television. Why does one commercial literally STOP YOU? Is it the
graphics? Is it the music? Is it the content within the message? HINT: Use some
measurable term such as double your results, triple your business, increase profits by
100% to interrupt your prospect.
Third, does your marketing message engage your prospect or suspect? OK, now
that you have your prospect’s attention, how do you keep it? This engagement may be
just for a few moments as in those 30-second sound bites we hear every day. Engaging
your prospect is critical to the success of your marketing strategies. HINT: At this
point, you should be providing some benefits that create the What’s In It For Me?
Fourth, does your marketing message educate your intended audience? Can you
provide some solid education in your message? Citing proven, documented data or
statistics helps to solidify your message. For example, within our business services, we
provide a student leadership development and interpersonal skills program (America’s
Rising Stars). We let parents know that: “According to the National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES), the average national timeframe to earn a 4 year degree is
5.3 years. Many universities report that it will take 6 years to earn a 4 year degree.” If
you are a parent with a college bound student, would this not be a valuable piece of
education? Imagine how much more money the parents are envisioning that they will bespending and if they have more than one college bound student, the numbers are
incredibly high and very, very expensive. HINT: Connect the education to the needs of
your prospect.
F
Fifth and final question, does your marketing message provide an immediate offer?
How many times do you hear? “If you call right now, we will reduce the price by $50? or
“Call right now and you will receive 2 for the price of one.” The offer is clearly stated.
Why, because the seller, that being you, wants the buyer, that being your prospect, to
take action right now, not later, but right now. HINT: Be creative with your message by
offering a substantial discount if one buyer secures 10 other buyers.
Remember, you absolutely need a marketing plan where your marketing message
interrupts, engages, educates and offers. If your current message is not delivering
these 4 objectives, then take some time to rework your plan. You will be simply amazed
by how quickly your results double.
Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com
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