Imagine trying to ride a bike with a dented front wheel. Not only would you have to huff and puff to keep rolling, but you would have a rough ride! Getting an effective marketing program rolling can be a bit bumpy, too, but in this article we’ll look at a well-rounded approach.
Just like riding a bicycle requires effort (up and down, up and down), business transactions also require effort. Buyers must make an effort to find a solution to a problem they have. You, the seller, must work to make a satisfactory solution available to them while also removing obstacles that might prevent the buyer from choosing your solution.
Before we look at the marketing wheel in detail, let’s look at some reasons customers might decide not to buy from you.
Objections and obstacles
It seems so simple to us. We have the perfect product or service that easily beats out the competition—no question! It’s so easy to see, but our customers “just don’t get it!”
Though we would like customers to make up their minds on the spot (Come on, just hand over the cash!), remember that it’s not that easy. Buyers need time to process their decision. The amount of time varies depending on the significance of the purchase for them, their personality, and other factors.
More than the facts and figures, how the customer feels about you and your product will likely determine his decision. As a general rule, a customer’s decision is based on 20% logic and 80% emotion. Research shows that customers who buy with their “gut feeling” are happier with their decision than those who attempt to isolate the emotion from their buying decisions.
There are three basic reasons customers might choose to not buy your product: fear, ignorance, and distrust. Ask yourself these questions and try to consider what might be going on in your prospective customers’ minds:
- What do my prospects fear?
- What important facts might they not know or understand?
- Why might they distrust my company?
Maybe the prospect fears that buying your product will be a waste of his hard-earned money. Perhaps he is ignorant of the advantages of using your service. Maybe he distrusts you because a competitor ripped him off or (help!) he had a bad experience with your company two years ago.
Your marketing efforts should be aimed at relieving fears, providing information, and building trust. Believe it or not, through effective marketing you can actually turn objections and obstacles into reasons to buy!
Now that we’ve considered the hill that we must pedal up in order to close a sale, let’s think about the wheels on our bicycle. Three categories form the well-rounded “marketing wheel”.
Think of them as three steps to help you roll smoothly along in closing more sales:
- Branding,
- Lead generation,
- Lead conversion.
This way of looking at your marketing efforts helps you to understand the bigger picture and how each piece of your marketing fits into your larger goals.
Step 1: Branding
The American Marketing Association defines brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.”
A logo is the narrowest definition of a brand, but the term has expanded to include much more: company colors, styling of photos, graphics, typefaces, and even copywriting style. In its broadest definition, a brand is a whole package intended to connect with your target customers. Your brand should communicate the personality of your company.
Your marketing will not reach its full potential without a clear understanding of your brand. Your brand is who you are in the customer’s mind. Good branding builds emotion (excitement, security, hope, and so on) in people that bonds them with the brand or the product. Good brands help build trust in prospects in customers. That trust is deepened as you faithfully deliver to the customer what you promised.
Good branding is developed from a clear understanding of how your company is different from everyone else. Can you answer these questions about your company?
- Who are we?
- What do we do?
- How do we do it?
- What is the single most compelling reason prospects should buy from us?
- Does our current brand image truly reflect our company?
Step 2: Lead Generation
Lead generation is any activity that identifies potential customers for your company. Advertising in traditional media—newspapers, trade shows, direct mail—is largely about lead generation.
However, there are creative ways to generate leads for free or a very low investment. For example, a clothing store was located next door to a large grocery store. The clothing store printed sale flyers for the grocery store baggers to put into every grocery shopper’s bag. Another example is the QuickBooks consultant who arranged for an accountant to recommend his consulting business to accounting clients. How can you collaborate with a business that is not your competitor but shares your customer base?
Of course, word-of-mouth referrals are cheap (free!), and they are very effective. How can you get some word-of-mouth advertising going? The answer is to wow your customers. Overjoyed customers will be your best salespeople.
Step 3: Lead Conversion
Lead conversion refers to the processes and tools used to lead prospects through the process of finding and buying the best solution for them. This sometimes includes a qualification step in which prospects that are unlikely to buy are no longer marketed to.
Once you’ve located someone interested in your product, your next job is to help them buy your product. Develop tools and resources that you can use to convert the lead into a buyer. Brochures, catalogs, and websites are excellent tools to make you more effective and efficient in leading your prospects to buy your product. Using these methods of communication, you can give your prospects the information they need to help them make a wise purchase.
A key part of the lead conversion process is answering questions and turning objections into reasons to buy. Educating customers is important, especially on new products or features that the average consumer is not familiar with.
Customers want to know information about the product: “What colors does this come in?” “How long will it take to get this delivered?”
Answering objections can be more difficult. A customer might say, “That’s just too much money for a deck chair!”
You need to change the objection to a question: “So what I hear you asking is, ‘Is this deck chair worth the investment?’” That makes the question easier to deal with and provides an opening for you to explain benefits or features of the chair that more than justifies the price tag.
A well-rounded marketing wheel
Marketing and selling are never-ending because we need to have a continual stream of customers. In most businesses, your best prospects are your previous customers, so serve your customers even better after the sale than you did before the sale. This, too, is part of marketing.
Could you improve the post-sale experience for your customers? Your consistent, enduring service coupled with attention and appreciation will keep them sold on you and your product. Happy customers will happily tell their friends about you.
Never stop innovating and trying new approaches in your marketing. Small changes can make a big difference in keeping your marketing efforts rolling along smoothly.
When all three parts of the marketing wheel—branding, lead generation, and lead conversion—are in place, you will see greater returns on each marketing dollar. You will also spend less time in sales work as your marketing does more of the heavy lifting of bringing leads to you and converting them to customers.