How Focusing Your Marketing is Like Losing Weight
You won't believe what I'm struggling with — "How to Focus Your Marketing." I was recently asked to help someone who was starting out in a new market with new customers. Here were just a few of the questions:
- Should I blog? It takes so much time and effort, will it get me where I need to be?
- Where should I put my time and my money when it comes to marketing?
- What are the steps I should take to get started – and where should I take them?
Normally I would answer with the following:
Setting Marketing Strategy and priorities is like setting a goal to lose weight. There are only 2 ways to lose weight; 1) eat less and 2) exercise more.
Likewise there are 4 ways to focus your marketing strategy:
- Define what sets you apart
- Choose customers you love that love you back (read as profitable and loyal) (John Jantsch Agrees)
- Figure out what's important to those customers when they choose what you're selling
- Develop a marketing system that delivers what's important
I know. I know. These questions are about as easy to answer as "eating less and exercising more" are to actually do. But that's the reality of good marketing strategy. If it were that easy – everyone (including me) would have a multi-million dollar business while hanging on the beach like Tim Ferriss of 4-Hour Work Week.
But what everyone wants to see is a simple recipe where these questions are answered for you. At the end of this article are more articles where you can get ideas.
If YOU have a simple answer to this question – leave it here and I'll forward it on.
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Ivana,
I also recommend building a large network of vendors and alliance partners who are not “takers” and to whom you are more than generous.
Regarding both this advice and your #2, I recommend that people read “The Power Principle” by Blaine Lee. It is especially important to understand the difference between a “transactional” relationship and a relationship which is built on your own leadership.
Too many people who try to network either look for a “transactional” relationship or are “takers.”
James Shewmaker
Qwerty
rainmakerwebsites.com
Excellent post. People have a way of making marketing way too complicated. If you know who your customers are, it’s a lot easier to decide which media to use to reach them. That’s why business blogs, Twitter, email, etc., work for some and not others.