How to Beat the Odds and Win the Recession Marketing Challenge
In recent articles I have introduced the issues involving both the "Magic Question" and the "Magic Answer".
The question that you now need to address is...
how will you create an effective solution that will literally interrupt your prospects multi-focused thought processes long enough to laser focus their attention directly on your introductory marketing message, while comprehending precisely what it is that you "do"? The gravity of effecting a viable and meaningful solution is far more complex than you might ever have imagined it to be.
Demystifying your marketing initiatives including your IMM is paramount if you are going to appropriately understand your marketing challenge.
If my calculations are correct, you would be unaware of the fact that there is a direct relationship between a Rubik's Cube, a Jigsaw Puzzle and your marketing plan.
Although this might seem rather questionable at first, I assure you that it is absolutely relevant to the success of your business.
If you've ever tried to solve the Rubik's Cube without having the answer up front, then you know first hand how impossible it is to solve.
The Rubik's Cube has 6 sides with 9 squares each, for which the mathematical computation of all of the possible combinations of squares is over "43 Quintillion".
So simple in design, yet an overwhelmingly complex solution.
Without having the answer upfront, you could spend the rest of your natural life 24/7 and never solve the Rubik's Cube.
With this as a reference point, have you actually ever calculated your available options when it comes to marketing your business? The fact is that marketing your business is like "3 dimensional chess" on steroids.
Seriously.
Consider that there are 7 accepted methods of bringing your product or service to the marketplace (distribution portals) and 5 tried and true "sales" strategies.
Additionally, there are 20 established "marketing" strategies, 11 sales "tactics" and 77 marketing tactics.
The interactive calculation of these five distinct marketing components is literally off the math charts and beyond comprehension.
So, what do you think your real odds are of getting your marketing equation "right"? The Rubik's Cube is mere child's play by comparison.
For ease of understanding, I want to provide you with an illustration that you will be better able to wrap your head around.
I want you to get a mental picture of your run of the mill Jigsaw Puzzle which has 1,000 pieces.
Clearly the Jigsaw Puzzle represents a much lesser challenge than the Rubik's Cube or your marketing options...
right? How would you rank the degree of difficulty for correctly completing the puzzle assembly? How would you rank the time frame that it would take? At this point, I want you to create a mental picture of this 1,000 piece Jigsaw Puzzle, but now I'm going to throw a variable into your thought processes -- there is no "lid" to the box that the puzzle came in.
You now have 1,000 random puzzle pieces and absolutely no clue of what the "picture" for the puzzle looks like.
You'll have to figure it out from scratch starting with puzzle piece number one.
What just happened to your degree of difficulty in correctly fitting the puzzle together? How much longer will it now take you or your team? Now refocus on the marketing components for your business -- do you know what all of the various distribution portals, sales strategies, marketing strategies, sales tactics and marketing tactics even are? What about identifying who your "ideal" client is? Would you actually know your ideal client if you saw them? Here's the connection in all of this...
of course you like every business and sales professional want more customers and clients.
Do you want just any customer? Or do you want to acquire the best -- most loyal client possible? When you can identify and then attract more of your "ideal" clients your business will sky rocket -- because your ideal client will truly value the products and services that you provide, spend more money with your business and refer more of the people that they know to your business.
These are very sound reasons to consider exactly "who" you are going to focus your important marketing decisions on.
Here's another critical piece of information that you may not know...
research has determined that it actually costs 5 times more to generate a new customer, than it does to keep and nurture a customer that your business already has.
Given this fact, wouldn't it be a much wiser and smarter choice to focus your marketing efforts directly on the "ideal" client who wants the products and services that your business provides? As opposed to the general universe of potential prospects that possibly need what you provide, but aren't motivated in any way to purchase them? Shouldn't you know exactly who you are marketing to before you start spending your crucial marketing dollars? It is literally the difference between using the age old shotgun approach, versus a laser guided targeting system.
Are you among of the vast majority of business owners who are quickly learning that what used to work, isn't working so well any longer -- and in many instances is no longer working at all? The experience of paying for an expensive marketing or advertising campaign and then not even getting a single telephone call is fast becoming an unwelcome business trend.
If you want to win the recession marketing challenge...
you must determine exactly who your "ideal" customer is and how to attract more of them.
Copyright © 2010 Developing Forward | Thomas H.
Swank, CBC | All Rights Reserved.
The question that you now need to address is...
how will you create an effective solution that will literally interrupt your prospects multi-focused thought processes long enough to laser focus their attention directly on your introductory marketing message, while comprehending precisely what it is that you "do"? The gravity of effecting a viable and meaningful solution is far more complex than you might ever have imagined it to be.
Demystifying your marketing initiatives including your IMM is paramount if you are going to appropriately understand your marketing challenge.
If my calculations are correct, you would be unaware of the fact that there is a direct relationship between a Rubik's Cube, a Jigsaw Puzzle and your marketing plan.
Although this might seem rather questionable at first, I assure you that it is absolutely relevant to the success of your business.
If you've ever tried to solve the Rubik's Cube without having the answer up front, then you know first hand how impossible it is to solve.
The Rubik's Cube has 6 sides with 9 squares each, for which the mathematical computation of all of the possible combinations of squares is over "43 Quintillion".
So simple in design, yet an overwhelmingly complex solution.
Without having the answer upfront, you could spend the rest of your natural life 24/7 and never solve the Rubik's Cube.
With this as a reference point, have you actually ever calculated your available options when it comes to marketing your business? The fact is that marketing your business is like "3 dimensional chess" on steroids.
Seriously.
Consider that there are 7 accepted methods of bringing your product or service to the marketplace (distribution portals) and 5 tried and true "sales" strategies.
Additionally, there are 20 established "marketing" strategies, 11 sales "tactics" and 77 marketing tactics.
The interactive calculation of these five distinct marketing components is literally off the math charts and beyond comprehension.
So, what do you think your real odds are of getting your marketing equation "right"? The Rubik's Cube is mere child's play by comparison.
For ease of understanding, I want to provide you with an illustration that you will be better able to wrap your head around.
I want you to get a mental picture of your run of the mill Jigsaw Puzzle which has 1,000 pieces.
Clearly the Jigsaw Puzzle represents a much lesser challenge than the Rubik's Cube or your marketing options...
right? How would you rank the degree of difficulty for correctly completing the puzzle assembly? How would you rank the time frame that it would take? At this point, I want you to create a mental picture of this 1,000 piece Jigsaw Puzzle, but now I'm going to throw a variable into your thought processes -- there is no "lid" to the box that the puzzle came in.
You now have 1,000 random puzzle pieces and absolutely no clue of what the "picture" for the puzzle looks like.
You'll have to figure it out from scratch starting with puzzle piece number one.
What just happened to your degree of difficulty in correctly fitting the puzzle together? How much longer will it now take you or your team? Now refocus on the marketing components for your business -- do you know what all of the various distribution portals, sales strategies, marketing strategies, sales tactics and marketing tactics even are? What about identifying who your "ideal" client is? Would you actually know your ideal client if you saw them? Here's the connection in all of this...
of course you like every business and sales professional want more customers and clients.
Do you want just any customer? Or do you want to acquire the best -- most loyal client possible? When you can identify and then attract more of your "ideal" clients your business will sky rocket -- because your ideal client will truly value the products and services that you provide, spend more money with your business and refer more of the people that they know to your business.
These are very sound reasons to consider exactly "who" you are going to focus your important marketing decisions on.
Here's another critical piece of information that you may not know...
research has determined that it actually costs 5 times more to generate a new customer, than it does to keep and nurture a customer that your business already has.
Given this fact, wouldn't it be a much wiser and smarter choice to focus your marketing efforts directly on the "ideal" client who wants the products and services that your business provides? As opposed to the general universe of potential prospects that possibly need what you provide, but aren't motivated in any way to purchase them? Shouldn't you know exactly who you are marketing to before you start spending your crucial marketing dollars? It is literally the difference between using the age old shotgun approach, versus a laser guided targeting system.
Are you among of the vast majority of business owners who are quickly learning that what used to work, isn't working so well any longer -- and in many instances is no longer working at all? The experience of paying for an expensive marketing or advertising campaign and then not even getting a single telephone call is fast becoming an unwelcome business trend.
If you want to win the recession marketing challenge...
you must determine exactly who your "ideal" customer is and how to attract more of them.
Copyright © 2010 Developing Forward | Thomas H.
Swank, CBC | All Rights Reserved.
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