Perfecting Your Marketing Ideas: Narrowing Down Your Ideas
By: Linda James Bennett At Shinyobjectmarketing.Com
Tags: Business Coach, Marketing, Life Coaching, Coaching, Copywriting

This is for the person who is struggling to come up with a good marketing idea. Possibly lots of marketing ideas. You’re stuck and it’s holding up your project.

Perhaps you’ve been wanting to publish a book. You’ve actually written it, now you’re in the editing phase (which can drag on and on) but you’re kind of stuck thinking about how to perfect it so a publisher will pick it up. Next, you’re thinking, if you don’t have a publisher you won’t have anyone to promote and sell the book. Not true.

Or you’re putting together a course but you haven’t worked out the details. Like where do I find the people who will want the course? If I can’t find the people why should I keep going?

All of these and more a keeping you from reaching your goals. Let’s break this down to see how you can improve your results.

Marketing Ideas for…

Marketing is marketing, no matter what you’re doing. Find your hungry crowd and give them what they want. Yes, I know that sounds rather simplistic, however, you can’t sell anything to anyone who isn’t ready to buy.

You can take a horse to water but you can’t make them drink… unless you salt their food. [does that make them sick — I don’t know]

The easiest sale is the person who is looking for exactly what you’re offering at the precise time they’re looking. Oh, how easy life would be if that was all it took. But those of us who have been selling for a while know that’s not the case.

So, what to do?

Start looking for the hungry crowd.

If you find yourself saying that doesn’t work for me, think again. In either business-to-business or business-to-consumer you’re selling to people Not a big cold corporation, but people who have wants and needs just like you and me. A real person signs a contract — right?

But maybe finding them might be different. At least a bit.

If you’re selling in the business-to-consumer space you have to figure out what’s their problem. What is the biggest pain in their life that you can fix? Consider yourself to be the aspirin, not a vitamin. If someone has a raging headache they’re looking for relief, a.s.a.p.

Say, for example, they’re professionals having trouble adapting to working from home, because their kids are in virtual learning mode. You’re a coach supporting professionals. Consider looking in Facebook groups for professionals, parents, homeschooling to find your people. Or look in industry groups to find your people.

Or, you’re selling in the business-to-business space wanting to find prospects with money. A great place full of money are businesses that have just been funded with venture capital. You’ll be surprised to see all the companies there, in various stages of funding. Big time funding. Definitely people with money. Try Techcrunch.com

If you’re selling in a geographic area to a specific industry, do a Google search for ‘industry’ near me. Like chiropractors near me. Jot down all the businesses/industries to contact. It’s just that easy.

Creatives in Marketing

Content marketing comes in many forms. This is a list of some forms you’ll use in marketing your business. And the list is huge. Pick and choose where you are comfortable. Expand into other areas after you’ve nailed your first few.

For example, if you’re blogging you can share the information on different platforms to create an Omnichannel strategy. Don’t feel like you’re in such a narrow category that you’ve fallen into a hole. All you have to do is share your blog content around the web, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and guest posting.

Take your content and chop it up into tweets, expand it into an E-Book, use it to create a guide, and the list goes on. There are many great ways to re-gift your creativity.

Lists

How to

Q&A

Case study

Interviews

Demos

Product Reviews

Comparisons

Company News

Industry News

Roundups

Book Reviews

Opinions and Rants

Personal Stories

Marketing Predictions

Research

Facts & Stats

Guides

Worksheets

Checklists

Templates

E-Books

Audio Books

Infographics

Photography

Web Apps

Tools

Contests

Video

Magazines

Webinars

Workshops

Live-Streaming

Presentations

Podcasts

Vlog Posts

Blog Posts

User-Generated Content

Forums

Wikis

Ask Me Anything

Memes

Illustrations

Emails

Courses

Newsletters

Awards

Polls

Surveys

Quizzes

Games

Tips for Marketing

The single greatest strategy to employ is building an email list, i.e. a database, your list. Marketing is about reaching out to your target audience with an offer to solve their problem.

This involves all forms of content media, i.e. your toolbox. With various content choices available, look for the ones you’re comfortable with and can deliver on a consistent basis.

If you love podcasting, get started. If blogging is your thing organize your topics.

Don’t just throw it out there, get organized. Consider the keywords that people are searching for and create content around those areas.

Commit to publishing every day. That includes emailing your list, every day. Even if they don’t read your email you have provided value, which is your mission.

I get emails from some people/businesses every day. I don’t usually act on them, but occasionally when I need something I’ll look back to their offers or information. Take yourself out of the picture it’s not about you it’s about serving your customer.

Your desired outcome is to increase your sales and putting yourself in front of your target audience as many times as possible is part of the process.

It’s just what you do.

Business owners will say they don’t like Facebook, Twitter, or emails. It doesn’t matter what you like. This is your business. If your customers like to read messages via carrier pigeons, you’d hurry out to buy pigeon coops. Just remember you’re doing this for them.

Marketing Ideas for a Small Business

If you’re a brick-and-mortar small business, life has shifted since the worldwide pandemic. You’ve got to find a method to communicate with your potential customers. This could include advertising, direct mail, flyers, podcasting, or email marketing. The low-cost method and highly effective is email marketing.

Use email marketing to stay connected with your hungry crowd. Reach out with offers to help them reach their goals with your products and services. Find their problems and offer them solutions. Continue to increase your database of clients and potential clients with information, education, case studies/white papers, quizzes, and/or opportunities to connect with you.

This is defined as a sales funnel. A sales funnel works for both online and offline businesses. Start marketing your products/services online. Even if you’re a restaurant you can generate sales online for takeout, catering, or delivery services.

Look for your customers/clients on social media, even if you don’t like it. Hang out where they are. Listen to what they’re talking about. If you’ve got the best solution, be sure to put it in your next email series. It’s like being a spy, except in a good way.

The Next Steps

Create a sales funnel. Direct your audience to your website with an opt-in offer. A sales funnel is a sequence of events that lead your customers on a sales journey. You’re taking them from their worldview to seeing what you have to offer.

Your job is to convince them that you’re a trusted person they can hand over their hard-earned money to and expect a good experience.

This gets them on your email list. Without an email list, you will struggle and spend tons of money. You’ll have to give them a good reason to sign-up for your list.

‘Sign up to my email/newsletter’ is so 1990s. Reframe your language to have them looking forward to your emails. We’ve all signed up for far too many emails that we don’t read and want to unsubscribe when you become annoyed. But the truth is, 1 — you will email them frequently and, 2 — you will provide them great value every time.

Figure out your special sauce and serve it up. Wow, your readers with value. Let them know how much you care about them. Because you really do.

In summary: Marketing will grow your business when it’s applied correctly. Increase your cache with tons of value. Always give more. Consider your messaging strategy.

If you’d like to chat about your next project, reach out at Linda@shinyobjectmarketing.com

Linda James Bennett; day 21 of 365 writing an article every day. Making you a shiny object in the world.