HOW TO BE MORE THAN THE SUM OF YOUR PARTS.
A team has been floundering, underperforming, low on morale.
Then in comes a new CEO or manager, and turns things around.
What’s going on? It’s the power of a clear plan and vision.
This is what I see a lot with companies and their marketing – they have pretty much all the components required, but they have no plan, nothing pulling it all together, and therefore it’s ineffective, and often a mental weight, weighing down the owner or manager.
Specifically in my world – people run Facebook ads with no clear idea why, they just heard Gary V proselytising about spending money on social so they do it – but actually there’s’ no benefit because it’s not being used to move them anywhere specific.
So let me lay it out for you.
Here is a general, slightly-vague-so-that-it’s-relevant-to-all strategy that applies to pretty much any business with an online presence.
Step 1 – Branding.
Refine your messaging across the board, get clear on:
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Who your customers are,
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What you want to be known for,
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Who the ‘common enemy’ is,
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What your big idea/USP/identity is
Step 2 – Content.
The best book I’ve read on approaching content recently is ‘They Ask, You Answer’ by Marcus Sheridan.
Honestly, it’s fantastic and you should read it.
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Answer questions that your prospects will have.
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Shoot down bullshit you see in your industry.
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Let people peek behind the curtain.
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Educate and entertain.
but for most businesses,
video is the best place to start,
because people can show that they’re interested in what you do simply by stopping their scrolling and watching – allowing you to build audiences quickly and cheaply.
Step 3 – Audiences.
Writing content is great, but results from SEO are SLOW, so don’t expect to be ranking on Google in days or weeks.
Choose the platform where your clients are – for most businesses that includes Facebook, but then maybe LinkedIn, or Instagram, or Twitter, or anywhere else that your audience spends time.
Step 4 – Retarget
Now that you’ve built an audience of people who have engaged with your content, it’s time to build that relationship.
The way we do that is by using retargeting to guide them along your customer journey/funnel/eco-system.
Depending on your audience, prices, buying cycle, and product type, you might need to do lots of warming up – sending people to blog posts, to more videos, to in-depth guides… But the goal is to gradually ask for more commitment from them.
- 30-60 second video
- 2-5 minute video
- 5 minute + video
- blog post
- Long blog post
- Online quiz
- video series
- Quick cheatsheet download
- Guide download
- ebook download
- A webinar
- A real book for free
- A quick consultation call
- A long strategy call
- An in-person event
- An in-person strategy session
The end goal of this is generally to get qualified contact details, so an email, or a phone number, or an address, so that you can continue the conversation on another platform (email, phone, in person).
Step 5 – Sell