on becoming

A Marketing Tour de Force

I’m John Watson

• Consultant since 1993 • President - Accrue Performance Marketing Inc. • Author

Being Profitable: The Earnings Growth Program

• Marketing Strategist, Analyst, Search Marketer

• Content Creator Writer, Photographer, Videographer

Strategist focused on

earnings growth

program development

Sales and Marketing For Small Businesses

22 years of startups and

small business

marketing

• I see the same repeating patterns of struggle

• Completely predictable and completely avoidable

• Every business is different, but we all struggle with the same basic things.

• You’d think there’d be an entrepreneur’s manual by now, but unfortunately there isn’t one.

• Particularly challenged are creative business owners. Artists, artisans and technicians tend to struggle.

The Situation

We want our businesses to

grow, but we’re

resource constrained.

• We all lack time, money and expertise

• We also tend to not ask for help

• When we do ask • We tend to be reactive, focused on the urgent • We focus on the tangible and tactical

• We’re not strategic because we think we can’t be

• Our sales and marketing systems are great examples of this.

• We tend to engage in random acts of marketing.

The Main Problem

We waste resources on ill conceived initiatives, we’re not

really committed to

• With sales and marketing in particular: • We blame our lack of resources for not engaging • We spend to our comfort zones rather than investing in what we need to be successful.

• Why • Because we don’t have plans worth investing in. • We’re not clear, we don’t believe… • So, we don’t commit ourselves

• We hedge.

• We try a little of this and that • We end up wasting our time and money

The Solution – Is To Get Clear and Committed

Our biggest obstacles are

a lack of clarity and

commitment.

• Get clear on your business plan

• Prove to yourself your business is worth investing in • What would you need to make it happen?

• What if you eliminated your reasons for holding back?

• What would you look like if you were unstoppable?

The Solution - Is You, With A Plan

Develop a program and commit to it. Then roll it

out a little at a time.

• What if you had a plan? • not just for today or this quarter.

• What if you had a long-term vision?

• A leadership platform for driving growth and remaining competitive

• What if your plan was designed to take years? • What if every tiny investment you made contributed to your vision, just a little bit?

• What if you acted and invested consistently in alignment with your vision?

How Does This Relate To Marketing?

What if we called

marketing and sales

something else?

• What if we called it your Leadership Platform?

• What if your leadership platform spelled out how you intended:

• To get people’s attention • To make sure you’re easy to find • To connect with and inspire people • To help them understand and feel safe with you • To make it easy to buy from you • To get them to act with urgency • To ensure that their experience with you is great • To encourage them to tell their friends • To stay in touch and to come back often • To make a healthy profit from your efforts

Defining Your Leadership Platform

A leadership platform

spells out how you profit by inspiring and

helping people

• It starts with your target audience • you define your customer’s journey • get clear on why you versus the other options • clarify your brand objectives • create an offer hierarchy • define your profit model • create a compelling introduction • design a system for getting clients • make sure you can communicate your vision • create a budget • start learning to sell • Then start rolling out your plan…

Define Your Audience

Be as specific as possible

when defining target

audiences

• Who are they.

• Be specific.

• Describe them in as much detail as you can. • Who don’t you serve?

• Who would your ideal clients be?

• Why do they need you, specifically?

• The value is in the detail, so don’t gloss over this.

Align and Streamline The Customer’s Journey

Your efforts should focus

on client needs, their

ease, earning trust and

confidence.

• What is the customers journey?

• The journey starts from never having heard of you to becoming loyal raving fans.

• What does this journey look like?

• Is it a super highway or is it akin to breaking trail through the jungle? How easy do you make it for people to fall in love with you?

Defining Your Competitive Positioning

If you can’t tell someone why to chose

you they won’t

• Why would anyone choose you over other options?

• You need to be crystal clear on this.

• If you don’t know why, how is anyone else going to know?

Define Your Brand

Your brand is your

reputation. Be consistent

with the reputation you want.

• Describe the reputation you want in 5 years

• Who will you need to be as a company to live up to and deserve your reputation?

• This question will direct and shape your strategic planning process.

Create A Compelling Offer Hierarchy

What are clients buying

from you? Don’t make them guess.

• Define in advance the first thing(s) people buy from you • What options do you give them? • What is their second purchase? • What is their next purchase?

• Define in as much detail as you can, the nature of your relationship with your best client over 5-10 years of doing business together.

• Your offer hierarchy should serve a new first-time client and your long-time clients.

Define Your Profit Model

How do you intend to

make money doing what

you do?

• Describe how you make money on first time sales. • Describe where you make most of your profits. • What is the most you can afford to spend on the acquisition of a typical first time client?

• This is another key factor that will shape your entire marketing program and your customer’s journey.

Craft A Compelling Introduction

You have 3-8 seconds to

make an impression

and 20 seconds more

to be clear.

• Inspire me in 8 seconds • Get them wanting me in the next 20 seconds

• Given your current website, social media presence and brochure materials – how long does it take someone who doesn’t know you, to get up to speed on what you do and why they should hire you?

• If it takes more than 30 seconds, work on it some more.

Design Your Growth Strategy / System

Strategist focused on

earnings growth

program development

• Map out the entire customer journey

• What’s along the path? • How does it work? • What is your capacity for moving people through it? • What is the process? • What are the specific steps? • How do you manage it? • What are the average unit costs per person, per step? • What do the unit costs need to be before you make any money? Your sales and marketing strategy is how you define and manage your customer’s journey at a profit.

Create A Briefing Document

Write it down.

Create a manifesto.

You need to enroll, inspire and be clear.

• Pretend you will need help creating this amazing customer journey.

• How will you effectively enroll people in your vision?

• How will they understand your plan in enough detail to do more than what you tell them to do?

• How will they really buy-in and help you without some sort of written plan that spells out the who, why, how etc.

Establish A Budget

You need to budget your money and

time and then prioritize

both to get things done.

• When we have very little time and money, budgets are the key to how.

• If you have $600 per month to invest, how will you implement your plan?

• Establishing constraints is vital to developing workable plans.

• Budgets help us think through the details to make sure we’re not dreaming.

Develop Your Sales and Marketing Skills

You’re The Saw.

Are You Keeping It

Sharp?

• The best laid plans are ultimately limited by you.

• If I’m the leader trying to bring my leadership platform into existence – perhaps I would have an easier go at it, if I learned how to lead and inspire people.

• Effective leadership starts with communication effectiveness, involves a lot of delegation, salesmanship, negotiation and more.

• What is my leadership development plan? How do I learn on the job effectively? What’s your plan?

Let’s Talk Tactics

Ready to think about sales and marketing

tactics?

• Define your identity • Being easy to know • Being credible • Being easy to find • Active prospecting • Advertising and promotion • Creating community • Engaging your community • Recognizing and managing opportunities • Making follow-up easy

Craft Your Identity

Your identity is your first impression.

What does it say about you

and does it resonate?

• This includes your logo • A square aspect ratio icon • Your colour palette • Your type face • Key messaging / tagline • An specific image or style of image

Be Easy To Know

Don’t make it difficult for

people to get to know you.

Be transparent

and accessible

• Who are you? • Whom do you serve? • What do you do? • What’s your story? • Why you? Help people get to know you with Who, What, When, Where, Why and How questions

Establish Credibility

Trust and confidence

are what earn you the

business.

• Your Portfolio • Testimonials • Client Lists • Awards • Social Validation • Your Credentials

Be Easy To Find

Be easy to find, when someone is looking. Its the simplest way to get

new business.

• If someone were to look for you, how hard would it be to find you?

• LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ • On Google maps • Online Yellow Pages • Your Website • Your Blog

• What set of keywords do you want to be found with?

Create Your Prospecting Plan

What proactive things are

you going to do to get clients?

• Responsive is good, but sometimes being proactive is necessary. • If you were to go out and get a client, where would you go to get them?

• Make a list of where you could go to meet clients • Could you send them something? • What publications do they read? • What websites do they visit? • Who could give you referrals?

Build Your Community

Your business is your

community. Be proactive, design and build it with intension.

The real challenge with community is how to connect with clients and peers

• Social media is the obvious place to develop a community There are so many options now. The real secret is to be strategic and organized about it, to develop a plan and to be consistent. Create an editorial calendar and plan your posts

Promoting Yourself

Once your system is

built, its time to consider advertising.

• PR and Advertising are often the last step

• They cost a lot, they are high risk (and high reward), but unless you have the rest of your program in place, they tend to be a waste of money.

• However, if you can get ready, PR and advertising can be highly effective.

• Google Adwords, Facebook, LinkedIn and online advertising networks are the starting point for most businesses. However traditional tactics still work.

• The main thing is to plan carefully

Recognize And Manage Opportunities

Learn to recognize

opportunity, then capture and nurture them until realized.

Learn to recognize opportunities • Not all opportunities are obvious or immediate • Try to see the opportunity in everything & everyone • Think what opportunity does this person represent?

Then create a system for managing these opportunities

• Consider Zoho CRM, Salesforce or Sugar • Create a contact and opportunity database • Practice cultivating long-term opportunities

Make Follow-up Easy

Follow-up needs to be anticipated

and automatic or automated

One of the most painful aspects of marketing is qualifying and following up with opportunities efficiently, effectively and quickly. Consider what you would do it you had 10 new opportunities come in tomorrow? Could you cope or would you fumble an miss out? Develop a system, with forms and templates to make following up easy.

Create A Personal Action Plan

What is my plan for the

year, this quarter, this month, this week and

today?

Guess What – You can’t do all this in a day or a month. Getting a marketing program together will take a year or more and it will never be done. Does this mean you can’t do it? The secret is knowing where you’re going and having a plan to get there as fast as you can manage. “A little at a time”, is a very effective strategy

Get Past Fear and Limiting Beliefs

Fear and limiting beliefs

challenge us. Master them

or they’ll master you.

What holds most of us back is fear, impatience and our limiting beliefs. Not the lack of budget, time or skills There is very little you can’t do if you put your mind to it and enroll the help you need. The secret is to get clear and to enlist help Try to get help beyond mere assistance with tasks Real help challenges you, makes you think and act differently

Track Your Performance

Your KPI’s are your best friends.

Get to know them well.

KPI’s – Key Performance Indicators Figure out what’s important to your success and track it. It’s easier than you think. It’s nothing more than a habit and it will do more to influence your behaviour and your success than anything else you do. Use your accounting system, your CRM, Google Analytics and a coaching framework

Consider A Mentor Or Coach

We all have blind spots

and challenges to

overcome. Don’t face

them alone.

As small business people we have a lot to do and manage The one thing most of us fail at is managing ourselves. Hire a coach to keep you on track over the course of a very long marathon (growing a business)

Becoming A Marketing Tour de Force

It’s all about you being unstoppable

• You start by getting clear • You make a plan that you believe in • You commit to your plan • You implement a little at a time • You enroll all kinds of help • You make use of systems and tools • You track your progress

What sets people apart from others is the clarity of their vision, their commitment to their goals, the people they enroll and the persistence they show up with everyday.

How unstoppable

might you become, if you were

really inspired?

Have A Plan, Work Your Plan, Grow Your Business

1.800.860.0026 www.AccrueMarketing.com