Are there gaps in your marketing?
We all have a few from time to time. The danger is not knowing where they are or what to do about them.
Serious marketers close these gaps the way professional athletes fix their weaknesses. They commit to a plan and track their progress toward accomplishing key activities.
Every business needs marketing. The problem is most don’t have a plan to make it work. The Duct Tape Marketing System maps out a framework that identifies the key marketing elements every small business needs to grow.
Six elements of a small business marketing system
1. A website that builds trust. Your website must build trust and guide the customer journey before
it can sell.
2. Content platform. Content tells your story in compelling ways and attracts customers.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search engines are the No. 1 way buyers find small businesses.
4. Social media engagement. Revealing the human side of your business is an important tactic.
5. Email marketing. Email allows you to deepen relationships with buyers that find your business.
6. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC). All of the above is for nothing if you can’t bring that demand home.
If you are missing one of the above elements, there is a good chance your marketing will fall short of its goals.
I’ve worked with companies whose marketing is successful without pay-per-click advertising. The reason is they are relentless about consistently building content marketing assets.
Companies like these that have strong organic SEO are the exception. Most of us do not have that luxury. We have to do both because organic reach is getting considerably more difficult these days.
Email is the Achilles’ heel
You may be wondering what the most common marketing gap is. It turns out to be email marketing, which happens to be the most powerful tactic for converting traffic into new customers.
That’s right, email marketing is more powerful than your website for bringing new deals home. Websites do most of the heavy lifting, but after that, it’s either the sales team or an email marketing newsletter that carries the baton across the finish line.
Few green industry companies consistently produce this form of content that deepens relationships with buyers. How do I know this?
I’m always interested in discovering remarkable industry newsletters. However, after I click to subscribe, the response is often crickets.
When I do receive an email, it’s usually an offer with an incentive
to buy. There’s nothing wrong with this if you have earned that opportunity.
People unsubscribe from email marketing when the value stops.
The idea is to consistently give them so much value that they are compelled to buy. You do this by showing how you solve their problems with interesting stories, graphics and case studies.
Think of email marketing as an extension of your sales team. Get to know your customers by encouraging them to hit reply. Make your newsletter an ongoing conversation. Share some of those replies in the next issue.
Microsoft recently published an article about marketing trends that will define the next decade. In it, the authors revealed the most-valued soft marketing skills, according to a survey of business executives.
1. Creativity
2. Humility
3. Empathy
4. Adaptability
5. Transparency
Email newsletters are the most intimate form of marketing because email is a permission asset. You have to earn permission to get access to that valuable piece of real estate we know as the inbox.
You have to keep earning it, too, and the best way to do that is with humility, empathy and transparency.
That’s what makes it so powerful for accomplishing business growth objectives.
If you could close only one gap in your marketing, what would it be?
My hands-down recommendation is email marketing.
