The Marketing Strategy That Works 100% of The Time (Part 2 – The Formula)

In Part 1 of this training series, I went over the foundational steps to the marketing strategy that works 100% of the time.  Before I continue with explaining part 2 of this strategy today, I want to first say THANK YOU!

The response that I received from people after publishing the first part of this series Thursday night has been wonderful, and I am very grateful. Thank you for your kind words and compliments.  Thank you all so much for your support, I really appreciate it!

Today, I’m going to go over the 4-part Continual Marketing formula that I briefly mentioned in the first part of this training series; but before I do, I want to remind you of the first 3 preliminary things you must do first:

1. Know the needs and wants of your target market
2. Know how you want to be perceived by your target market
3. Create a free offer that satisfies your target market’s needs and wants

Remember, the above is how you create the foundation of your platform and position yourself properly.

So now, let’s get into the next thing to do, which is: Promote Properly.  Remember, promoting properly is what Continual Marketing is all about.

So why do I call it “Continual Marketing?”

Well, marketing is an “ing,” meaning it’s continual.  So, if you expect to get results with marketing, then you need to do certain things continually.  The problem is that many people do not know what those things are, so I’m going to tell you what they are right now…

Build a List of Leads

Your list is your main asset.  You need leads!  You need people that you’re going to talk to on a regular basis.

You need a list of emails, but not just any old emails – don’t go out and buy a list!  That’s NOT what I’m talking about.  You need to build a relationship with a list of people who have raised their hand, so to speak, and have made the choice to subscribe or opt-in to be on your list.

You want people to make the choice of being a part of your inner circle or community themselves, because you only want to speak to people who are truly interested in what you have to say.

You want them to develop an affinity for you.

You’ve got to care about them; nurture them; entertain them; educate them; and really get to know them.  

Get to know their pain points and their dreams.  Ask and listen.

This is really the beginning of relationship marketing 101.

It’s important that you do not focus on selling to them!

Instead, you’re just really having a conversation with them, and when something comes along that you know they would be interested in (such as your book, other products or services, an event, etc.), you simply suggest it to them – just like you would a friend.

If you have taken the time to research and know your target market…

And you have taken the time to create a message that matches the needs and wants of your target market…

And you have taken the time to allow people to join your list…

And you have taken the time to allow the people on your list to get to know you…

…then, and only then, will they be willing to buy from you!

People do not purchase things from people they do not like or trust!

How can you expect them to like you if you haven’t given them a chance to before shoving your book or other products and services in their face?

How can you expect them to trust you if all you do is try to sell to them all the time?

So build the relationship first, and then make suggestions to them.  Some of those suggestions are things they need to pay for and some of those suggestions are things that are free.

So am I saying that you never sell to your list?  

No that’s not what I’m saying at all.  What I’m saying is to focus on building a relationship with your list, just like you would with a friend, and then suggest things to them that you know would be of interest to them.

There’s one thing I want you to keep in mind, though…

Not everyone will value you, and that’s okay!

Please understand that just because people are within the same target market and have joined your list, does not mean that they all think exactly the same.  

Your message may resonate with them perfectly; you may have built a relationship with them; you may have given them plenty of things for free; you may have offered free events that they have attended, and they may love it all…but then, when you offer them something they need to pay for, you get no response.

Please know that that’s ok.  

Some people are like that; some people expect everything you offer them to be free.  

Some of those same people will even send you insulting messages or emails because you’re suggesting something to them that they have to pay money for.

Please do not let these people discourage you.  

You know your worth, and the people that value your message will indeed pay for some of your products or services.  

They understand that not everything is always going to be free.  

They understand that you need to make a living and provide for yourself and your family too.

They understand that not everyone wants to work for someone else –  they get that some people want to branch out and become full-time authors, speakers, and business owners.

With that said, you can’t expect for people to always pay for everything, but they will pay for some things you offer.  

Continue to communicate with the people on your list no matter what!

Believe me, I know what it’s like when you lose touch with your list or stop having that personal connection.  I myself was so caught up with the various changes going on in my business the past few years to the point where I didn’t realize how much I had neglected the people that raised their hand and wanted to learn more from me.

I was so focused on organizations and corporate related things that individuals – my authors, speakers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners (including the people who wanted help promoting their ministry) –  were not getting the attention I used to give them.  These are the very people that are responsible for my initial success, and here I was so focused on other things that the nurturing they received had almost stopped.

Well, God has blessed me to become more aware of what was going on, and I felt like I had to apologize, so I did.  

I had sent out an apology letter email to everyone who had been on my list longer than 3 weeks, and gave them the opportunity to let me know what they wanted to learn – which is how this training series came about.

This is my way of giving back to the people who have supported me – people like you. Thank you for your support!

If you have a list, and you haven’t reached out to them in awhile, I suggest that you reach out to them and find out what they want to know more about.  Get to know them all over again, and this time, keep the communication flowing.

Building a list is the #1 thing you need to do online. If you don’t do anything else – you just have a website and have nothing but just an opt-in box, people submit their information in that op-tin box, and you continue to nurture them – you’re good.

Here’s the main online tool you need to get this done…

You need an autoresponder system; which is also known as an email list management system.  This is the tool that will allow you to follow-up with thousands of people at one time.

You first have to create an opt-in form (or opt-in box) within the software, have that form integrated on your website, and then when people sign up, you have the ability to communicate with all of them at one time.

This software will allow you to create a series of follow-up messages that you can set to go out at intervals of your choosing, and/or you can create one-time email broadcasts or campaigns that you schedule to be sent out on a certain day and time.

Having an autoresponder system allows you to be more efficient when it comes to  communicating with the people on your list and it keeps everything organized.  

You have the ability to upload messages days or weeks ahead of time and, depending on the system you choose to use, you can even tag people based on their interest and have the system send certain messages to certain groups of people.

If people no longer want to be on your list, they can simply click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email.  The system will automatically add that link to the bottom of all of your emails for you.

There are two tools that I recommend (you only need one of them): Aweber or Active Campaign.

Active Campaign has more features and allows you to do more things, but Aweber is a good one too.  You have to decide for yourself which one will be best for you based on your needs.

For me, I was using Aweber for several years, but recently I moved my lists over to Active Campaign, because it allowed me to organize my lists a certain way when it came to tagging, automations, etc.

So now that you have an understanding of list building and lead nurturing, and know what tool you can use to get it done, I’m now going to go over the second part of this marketing formula…

Build a Hub Online

Your hub is your online home; which is your website/blogsite.

In the old days, people used a website like a brochure or business card.  Websites were static; just something you put up there with a few words and you were good.

Well that’s not good anymore!

You’ve got to actually have what we call a Web 2.0 website, or a blogsite.  An example would be WordPress or whatever format you use for web 2.0…and by 2.0 I mean: two way communication.

You don’t want your site to just sit there and look cute; instead, use it as a tool that allows for both you and your website visitors to interact with each other.  Think about blog posts and comments, for example, that’s two way interaction.

The key is to optimize your online hub….  

You don’t just want written words on your site, you also want to have pictures and/or video and audio. Be creative, yet professional, and make it attractive to your visitors.

You also want to make sure that you have social icons that lead to your profile on social networks.  

Some people start off following and interacting with you on social media long before they join your list or purchase from you.  However, if they come to your site and do not know how to connect with you on social media, then you just missed out on a potential future lead.

So you want social icons on your site that link to your profile on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.

Another part of optimizing your site is to make sure that the search engines, such as Google, like your content enough to list pages of your site when people within your target market search for information online.  This is one way of getting more website traffic, which leads to more leads.

How do you get Google and other search engines to like your site?

By continuously writing about things that are of interest to the people in your target market, that’s how.

So you want to start blogging. This is so important!

The search engines give searchers a list of results that closely matches what they were searching for, so if pages on your site contain that content, then eventually pages of your site will come up in the search engines based on the words that people in your market used to search.

However, it takes more than just relevant content; you also need to make sure that you have an SEO website.  Having an SEO website will allow for your content to be presented to the search engines in a way that they prefer it to be.

SEO stand for Search Engine Optimization, and an SEO website is the type of site where the web developers will add what’s called “on page” SEO code elements to your site.

Here are a list of those elements:

• Title tags (should be different on each page)
• Description meta tags (should be different on each page)
• Heading tags  (h1, h2, h3)
• Robots.txt file optimization  
• Xml sitemap creation and submission  
• Image optimization (alt tag, title, and filename)  
• Url canonicalization  
• Relevant anchor text  
• Internal linking
• Optimized url structure (proper structure and keyword usage)

If your website does not include the above elements (which should have been done when your website was first created), and you hire someone to optimize it for you, they must redirect your current urls to the new urls that are created.  

This is called 301 redirects and it is a very important SEO element that must be utilized if you currently have traffic coming to your site and you want the old urls to redirect to the new urls instead of redirecting to a page that no longer exists.

The above list is what an SEO expert told me I needed done to my site years ago, and after they implemented the changes, I noticed an increase in website traffic.  It wasn’t immediate, but over time I started seeing results.

Another thing you want to do – which also helps with getting more website traffic – is to make it easy for people to share your content.  

Make sure that your blog posts have social sharing buttons on the page.  The most important share buttons to have are Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, Linkedin, and Pinterest (if you have pictures on every post – which I highly recommend).

Have Sticky Content

Again, make sure you’ve got good photos and/or video, and just really expert articles – blog post – and things that are positioning you in the market.

Create content that people will love. You already know what their wants and needs are at this point, so create blog posts that center around that.  

Show people that you are knowledgeable in your field.

Be their online resource!

Next up…

Have a Great Offer

Make your target market an offer they can’t refuse, and continue to create offers that resonate with their interests.

A good example is the Harry Potter books (No, it’s not Christian, but I’m mentioning it because what the author did is an excellent example of providing for your audience)…

For whatever reason, the author wrote those books, and it was the right thing at the right time.  People loved the books.  People were standing out at books stores with those Harry Potter books.

They were the thing that people really wanted, so what did she do?  She kept writing them!

She didn’t have the one successful book and say, “You know what?  Now I’m going to do a cookbook.”

That really would have thrown people off.  

So instead, she kept up with the demand.  That’s what she did, and that’s what I’m recommending that you do.

You know who you’re speaking to – you know your target audience and you’re speaking their language; you’re really talking about the solutions that you’re going to solve for that audience (or the benefits)  and you’re making yourself clear and concise.  

But you’re making it so that it’s an offer where they’ve raised their hand:

They’ve come to your online hub.

They’re part of your list.

They’re part of your tribe.

And now you offer a book, or a program, or seminar, or you have an event…and they show up.

That’s how it happens!

It doesn’t just happen because you have this great idea: “I’m going to write a book” or “I have this great idea; I’m going to do an event” or “I have this great idea, I’m going to start this business…”

You have to develop a rapport with your audience…with your target market…with your list.

Positioning yourself so you’re getting continual leads and sales ALL THE TIME!

So every touch point – whether you are doing social media…whether you’re tweeting… blogging…doing videos…doing Instagram photos…on your email signature – you are continually positioning yourself in their mind as that expert

That’s how your great offer(s) sell!

Basically, it will sell itself because of the ways in which you are positioning yourself.

This leads me to the last part of the Continual Marketing formula…

Be Branded

Be the “go to” person your market looks up to and TRUST.

How do you build a brand?

• Be consistent
• Have a look & voice
• Make an impression
• Be distinctive and memorable
• Have social proof and get some press

Similar to marketing – branding is an ING, so it’s continual.

People often ask…

“Well, what’s the difference between branding and marketing?”

Marketing is really the whole point of where you’re actually selling something, so people can actually buy a product or service.

Branding is really very similar to positioning, because you’re branding meaning that you are creating touchpoints along the way where people are getting you.  

It’s like, “Ok, I get what that person is about.”

Branding is part of your overall marketing strategy, because people will buy from brands they are familiar with; brands that they hear about all the time; brands that are everywhere; brands they know, like, and trust.

That’s why it’s important for you to be branded!  

Show people the consistency of what you’re about!

You want to get your brand into the minds of the people within your target market, so you have to remember that every single thing you do affects your brand.  It’s not just about what you do online on your site or what you post on social media, etc.

What you do matters even in terms of when you’re doing things face to face as well.

If you’re going to speak, I would tell you to have a podium cover or have a sign. If you’re going to have a product table, you should be branding in a way where you have everything matching; for example, have a table cloth on your product table on display that matches everything else.

Yes, those little things matter!

If you’re going to be speaking and you’re an author, sometimes I may say: get a t-shirt with the book cover on it, so that you’re continually branding.

Remember, people are moving so fast these days; they’re half listening and half paying attention.  So by really putting that brand in front of them so they can see it, they get it right away.

Every single touch point; even a voicemail – your voicemail message on your phone can be part of your branding.  

People call you and you’re not available; don’t use the old boring one,“You’ve reached such and such, I’m not here…” 

Instead, you can make it like a mini commercial if you want to.  For example, you can say something like, “Hi, this is Pam Perry PR, we help you brand like a superstar.  I’m sorry I’m not here, but…”  and so on.  

So you want to say your tagline (that’s part of your brand) at every touch point, so that people get you.

What To Expect Next

I covered a lot of ground today, but there’s still much more to say about promoting properly, especially when it comes to branding.  However, this post has become quite long, so what I’m going to do is create another post that gives you even more details into how to promote properly and be branded.  

My focus will be on how social media ties into all of this, and how to attract media attention (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.).

I’m going to release part 3 of this training series next week, so keep an eye on your email inbox for the link to that post.

I’m not sure which day I will release part 3 (I still have to type it up), but I will definitely publish it one day next week.

If you’re not already on my VIP Contact List, you can sign up below so that you receive the link to Part 3:

***Update***

Part 3 has now been published here.

God bless,

Pam