Every customer has a journey and each step of that journey requires a different marketing piece or strategy. First, let’s start with Prospects.
Prospects
A prospect can be anybody within your target marketing. You noticed how I said within your target marketing? You first must identify your target market before you start to advertise to your prospects. Otherwise you would be wasting a lot of money on people who are not interested in your product or service.
Let me reference one of my favorite marketing books “The 1-Page Marketing Plan.”
“The marketing process is a journey we want to guide our ideal target market through. We want to guide them from not knowing we exist right through to being a raving fan customer.
Through this journey there are three distinct phases that we guide them through. These phases are the Before, During and After phases of your marketing process. The following is a brief overview of each of these phases.
Before
We label people going through the before phase as prospects. At the beginning of the “before” phase, prospects typically don’t even know you exist. The successful completion of this phase results in the prospect knowing who you are an indicating interest.
During
We label people going through the during phase as leads. At the beginning of the “during” phase leads have indicated some interest in your offer. The successful completion of this phase results in the prospect buying from you fro the first time.
After
We label people in this phase as customers. At the beginning of the “after” phase, customers have already given you money. The after phase never ends and , when executed correctly, results in a virtuous cycle where the customer buys from you repeatedly and is such a fan of your products or services that they consistently recommend you and introduce you to new prospects.
Marketing for each phase
Prospects to Lead
How many touches does it take for a Prospect to become a lead? How many touches does it take for a Lead to become a Customer? 20 touches is a good place to start. This might seem excessive, but I have found that we underestimate this number and tend to quit too soon.
In order to get leads we like to use the following traffic sources:
- Facebook ads
- Google Ads
- YouTube Ads
- SEO ads
- Instagram Ads
- Radio
There are more, but those are some of the quickest. Your goal is to get prospects to respond to your message. Once they have indicated interest by responding, they become a lead and enter the second phase of your marketing process.
Lead to Customer
Leads are people who show enough interest in your product or service that they are willing to listen to your message. They are now in your database and you job is to nurture them into a paying customers. Just because they are a lead, doesn’t mean they are going to buy from you. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
At RED we spend a lot of time convincing your clients that a Lead is not the end game. We also battle other marketing companies on the exact definition of a lead. To us, a lead is not just a name and email address. A lead is someone who is actual interested in your produce or service.
Many marketing companies are really good at getting leads at a low cost, but that’s not the goal. Junk leads tend to waste money and resources.
A quick tip is too have your prospects fill out a longer form that takes more effort and ask more questions. Here’s a simple landing page for a life settlement company.
https://redunclaimed.com/life-insurance-lp/
Notice the form and how many questions we ask.
Once they have entered into your system we like to nurture them with the following:
- Remarketing Campaigns on all platforms
- Email Nurture campaigns
- Text Campaigns
- Phone Calls
- Blogs
- Videos
Leads are critical to your marketing success and they must be nurtured. This is because only a very small percentage of interested leads may be ready to purchase from immediately. We like to use REDUP for nurturing our leads. It’s our CRM platform
Customer to Ravening Fan
Customers can be one of the biggest resources for more leads. Your first obligation to a new customer is to perform on your promises. If you told them you would fix their knee pain, you better fix it. If you claimed your product would make their wildest dreams come true, it better. I know so many companies that promise the prospect everything and know they can not perform on what they promised. This will come back and haunt you. Deliver on your promises, and your customers will become Ravening fans.
Here are some of the things we do:
- Pick up our phones
- Send a Shock and Awe Package
- Work our butts off until our clients see results
- Always improving our product and service
- Provide a ton of value
This might all seem complicated, but with technology this can all be set up in a week. As a small business focus on making your customers become Raving Fans. That’s one of the fastest ways to build up your business and revenue. Your customers will spread the words.
Quick recap
Marketing should be split up into 3 funnels or channels. Prospects to Leads, Leads to Customers, and Customers to Raving Fans. If you need help we would be happy to send you a marketing proposal.
Good luck!