The Power of Focused Marketing

Yesterday I was presenting a 'round table' session for a small group from my business club.

We were talking a lot about online marketing options, and how all businesses can use their website to generate more sales, enquiries, bookings, or event registrations.

We spoke about how that even applies for businesses that may not appear at first glance to be 'online' businesses, such as accountants and coaches.

Side bar: I often find that business owners are overwhelmed by the choice of marketing tacics. And I don't blame them. As a marketing professional my head also spins with the amount of options available.

At the roundtable session I made the point that you - as the business owner - have to understand what your prospects need to have, know, or learn, to turn them from a looky-loo prospect to a paying customer.

It is that definition of 'what your prospects need' that should be driving your choice of which marketing tactics to use.

- Do they need educational information?
- Do they need to see proof of your credibility?
- Do they simply need the details spelled out for them?
- Do they already know what they want?

Too often it's easy to simply continue doing what you've done before. And that goes for your marketing activities too.

Just keep doing what you've done in the past. Or what your competitors do. Or what is 'done' in your industry.

But the world moves on.

In particular the marketing world continues to evolve.

Now there are more options to consider with all the social media services and tools available. And it's not just a fad. Many of these tools will be around far into the future.

What are your potential clients using, viewing or reading?

Twitter
Facebook
Flickr
LinkedIn
SEO
Blogs
and there's plenty more (these are just the well-known ones)

The question is... What should you focus on?

If you're not careful you can get washed away in the flood of new ideas, tools, gadgets, gimmicks, and hype.

But will it work for you?

Each business will need a different answer.

- Your answer will be partly driven by your business processes.
- Partly driven by what your prospects need.
- Partly driven by your marketing knowledge.
- Partly driven by your personal or business resources.
- And partly driven by your degree of interest in what is being done.

You need to fill any gaps in your knowledge, make decisions about what to do, and consistently implement those ideas.

TIPS:
Don't bite off too much to do at once.
Don't use tactics that are irrelevant for your prospects.

In this case, more is not always better.

You want to use the best combination of tactics to create the business results you are aiming for. Don't just do things for the sake of doing it.

Read. Watch. Listen. Learn.

Focus on what your prospects need to know to move from being a silent observer to becoming a regular happy client.

That focus will give you the power to make smarter marketing decisions, and the power to attract more clients more easily.

Note - If you need help to set and maintain your marketing priorities you may find my Marketing Mentor Program useful.