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Ten easy Steps to Marketing Success

By Larry L. Nichols
WordandWebWiz.com
Copyright © 2003 - 2007
All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

People often ask me what the most important steps are to ensuring that a business will succeed “over the long term.” The order changes from day to day, but over the past 25 years, these are the 10 basic tips that I continue to pass along, hoping to lend a helping hand wherever and whenever I can.

*** #10: Remain Patient: I just couldn’t wait to get to this one! Unless you learn to become very patient in your marketing efforts, it will become increasingly difficult for you to maintain the necessary commitment to see your campaigns through the “Seeding Phase” and into the “Harvest Phase”. Farmers don’t plant the crops and then dig the seeds back up after a few weeks because they don’t see any sign of growth. Admit it. That’s just plain stupid.

Impatience costs business owners tons of money, tons of time, and tons of customers. Impatience is the number one killer in developing any kind of a long-term business strategy. You’ll blow your investment and any good consultant or writer that you’d hired, right out of your circle of influence. Remember, it’s consistency that makes prospects gain confidence in you in the first place. Don’t blow it. Remain patient!

*** #9: Always Test and Measure: Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. Track it. Write it down, experiment further, and write it down again! Every organization is different. Even within the same category of business, what works for one may company or campaign, may fail miserably for another. It’s really a lot more along the lines of “One man’s ceiling is another man’s tangerine.” It’s wacky, unpredictable stuff. You’ll never really know for sure, ‘till you’ve tested and tested again!

Keep notes on how different ideas work out. I suggest a scale of 1-100. Remember to give each strategy the necessary time and commitment to thoroughly follow through, giving each plan a fair chance to deliver. But when you start to organize your annual marketing plan for next year, instantly and without question, double up on those things that consistently worked and drop the things that didn’t.

*** #8: Be Committed: No, I don’t mean have yourself institutionalized for serious psychological evaluation, unless of course, you really feel that’s necessary. In that case, I’ll see you in the TV room; I’m the guy playing checkers with the mop, in the blue plaid bathrobe.

It’s a time proven fact, that a mere halfway decent, semi-knowledgeable marketing program, followed through with total commitment, will always dramatically outperform even the most creatively and brilliantly Genius strategy, that is piloted by the seat of one’s pants, and not given the proper opportunity to ever truly prove it can fly.

*** #7: Increase Personal Involvement: Relationships are still developed the old fashioned way, YOU HAVE TO EARN THEM. Today, the ability to be a Customer Service Super-Star is simply the price of admission to this game. Mere customer satisfaction just doesn’t cut it anymore.

You need to achieve ultimate, undeniable customer exhilaration!!! Do all the little things that other won’t bother to do, to make it personal, easy, and enjoyable for clients to continue doing business with you. Follow up and follow through! It’s all about people. Lose sight of that, and you’ve lost it all.

***#6: Make the Investment: Marketing is not an expense - it’s an investment. While all successful entrepreneurs will admit: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” and “It takes money to make money,” Business is not built on bread alone. You need to invest your time, creativity, passion, and dedication to ensure the success of your enterprise. Look at those around you who are highly successful. Study them. You will quickly discover that what sets them apart is that total investment of their very selves into everything they do.

Consider the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Clint Eastwood, Oprah Winfrey, Brett Favre, The Williams Sisters, Paul McCartney, and "The Jays" (Conrad Levinson & Abraham), what do they all have in common. It is that total investment into whatever they do that makes them consistently shine above the crowd of others and stand out to me noticed and appreciated.

*** #5: Develop Dependence: Believe it or not, becoming co-dependent on other businesses that attract the same niche audience, a similar target demographic clientele, will actually set you free. Co-operative ventures in advertising, lead exchanges, referrals, “Tie-Ins,” marketing packages, testimonials, etc., are the wave of the future. You might as well get started now. Remember the old saying “Safety In Numbers!” Have others around from which you can draw energy and ideas.

Henry Ford finally got rich, after a disastrous bankruptcy, by touring a meat packing businesses of one of his friends. Upon seeing the concept of assembly line procedures, used in the meat business, he decided to try to apply them to making automobiles. Eureka! Have companions in business to help share the load, the investment and in return, the success with you. On your own, you are extremely vulnerable, but as a member of a trusted team, you can grow in safety and security. Besides you’ll make life-long friends and have more fun.

*** #4: Stay Consistent: It takes time for prospects to grow to trust you. If you’re continually changing your marketing message, target niche or identity, people will find it very hard to truly trust you. Remember that self-restraint and repetition are two of your greatest allies. Marketing is the battle for people’s allegiance, by subtly crafting a strategy that effectively places you at the very top of their mind; becoming the first business they think of when they need your product or service.

How can they ever get in that habit of thinking of you when your image and message (Branding, Motto, Logo, Jingle, etc.) keeps changing? Hey, …..unless you’re David Bowie or Madonna, please be smart and stay consistent! (Hey, what’s with this Madonna fixation, anyway?)

*** #3: Gain Confidence: Confidence was ranked as the number one reason people will do business with an organization, Period! It’s as simple as that. You must do whatever it takes to gain people’s confidence, or you’re not even in the game. That means a lot of time spent analyzing exactly what it is that people really appreciate and demand. That’s easier than you think! I mean, after all, you’re a person aren’t you. So what do you look for in a company that you are willing to develop a long-term business relationship with?

Learn from your own self. It’s the Classic “Golden Rule,” “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you!” By the way, the number two reason people do business with an organization was quality, with number three being service. Selection came in at number four and price, the thing that most companies put all their focus on, only rated as the fifth consideration for how people determine who they want to do business with.

*** #2: Offer Convenience: People will go where it’s EASIEST for them to do business. Your concern must become what’s convenient for the customer, not for your self. Remember, time is not money; time is far more valuable than money. Money can always be replaced, but time can never be retrieved. If you think I’m wrong, please go tell it to the geniuses who run “7-11” and “AM/PM.”

It might take a couple of months to get an appointment, as the task of counting all that money is a real serious issue round them establishments. Know what I mean?
And, drum roll please… the #1 answer to how to ensure that a business succeeds, over the long term!

*** #1: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat: In this day and age of sensory overload, an advertised message normally needs to be received no less than ten times, before it will have any real affect on the behavior of the recipient. Also consider the fact that it takes five times more effort and investment to develop a new customer, than to merely convert a happy client into a regular customer. What do we learn from these two facts? Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!

Repeat your message so consistently that your spouse and employees want to ring your neck. Trust me; it will dramatically increase the ringing in your cash register and the little bell on your door. If you’re a part of the “E-conomy” then it will be your little email alarm thingy, ringing like mad and your ears ringing after trying to count your profits at the end of the day. Remember; repeat business is more profitable for both you and the client. It is the necessary “WIN-WIN” situation that leads to those long-term relationships and hot, trust-worthy referrals that make a business thrive. Got it? Or do I need to repeat myself… again?

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