If you ask most entrepreneurs what they dislike doing in their business, the answers will invariably be ‘marketing’ and ‘sales’. Both words immediately have you thinking of touting your wares and trying to PUSH someone into a sale – an image that is full of pressure, awkwardness and has long made both words seem tarnished and dirty.
The truth about marketing
Marketing however, in its purest form ISN’T about selling at all. It’s about ADDING VALUE and educating your potential customers. It’s about:
- Providing VALUE to others
- EDUCATING people about your product and service
- HELPING them use your product or service more effectively
- SHARING useful advice, hints and tips
- INFORMATION and COMMUNICATION
Selling doesn’t come into it at all! So now we’ve eased the pressure and cleaned up the ‘M’ word, how can you more effectively use it?
Share the love!
You know so much about your product, your service and your industry or niche – and marketing is simply sharing the love you feel for them around. Think of the different ways you can do that:
- Content on your website (i.e. blog posts, podcasts, videos etc)
- Social media (sharing snippets of advice, images, quotes etc)
- Emails (autoresponder emails, ad-hoc mail outs, newsletters etc)
- Asking questions in groups and via hangouts – and giving others the chance to ask you questions
- Hosting a webinar or teleseminar, full of useful information, tips and advice
And this is all BEFORE you’ve even started mentioning anything about prices, special offers and other ‘salesy’ related things.
Are testimonials and reviews considered ‘salesy’?
Whilst you’re sharing the love around your various marketing activities, take a minute to consider sharing testimonials and reviews. There are some people who consider these too ‘salesy’…but are they really?
Testimonials and reviews build your reputation. They help raise your brand awareness AND often they will illustrate a problem/solution scenario your ideal client has. How HELPFUL would it be for your potential clients to read a firsthand account of how your product or service helped someone in a similar situation? How VALUABLE would it be for a potential client to watch a video and see the joy and emotion on your existing client’s face, when they share how you helped them move forward from where they were, to where they are today?
Being of service
How VALUABLE is it to your business, to share these success stories and reviews with others? And how VALUABLE and HELPFUL would it be for those people you can help, if they knew there was a way to FINALLY solve a problem they had – AND that someone ACTUALLY HAD A SOLUTION?
How much of a VALUABLE SERVICE can you be, if you put yourself out there and marketed yourself more effectively? How much more EFFECTIVE could you be… if you changed your focus to one of GIVING rather than PUSHING?
We’ll be looking at some practical steps to help move your marketing forward during the month of February. In the meantime, what information can you share through your different marketing channels? Do you know which marketing channels are best suited to your ideal client? How much easier do you find marketing, if you change your focus from sales – and moved it onto giving value? Do you worry you don’t have enough time to effectively do your marketing yourself? Why not share your thoughts and opinions on marketing in the comments box below?
All images courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
