Seven Steps to Marketing Success

An authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach and owner of Strategies for Success, Cidnee Stephens promotes these seven steps to marketing success:

• Narrow your focus - change your marketing strategy from 'anybody who' to 'somebody who' by defining your target audience. Who is your ideal customer or which customers are your most profitable?
• Find and communicate your core difference - identify your hook, or what customers love about your product. Connect the dots between the product and customer needs.
• Build the Know, Like and Trust Factors - consumers taste and touch a product up to 27 times before buying.
• TRY-sumers have replaced consumers, so make it easy for potential customers to sample, sample, sample. Selling is quick but marketing takes time.
• Create marketing materials that educate - try creating a marketing kit of materials that are flexible and can be changed easily. Don't print large quantities at one time; today's brochure is your website, kept it updated.
• Lead generation trio - or generate leads in three ways: advertise - it creates awareness and develops leads; referral marketing system - generates referrals through strategic alliances and partnerships; and, public relations - is a very powerful 'lead' generator, so develop local media contacts and use them.
• Automate and dominate - to increase sales, go online. A website adds credibility. Include a 'Refer Us' link. Find a student in the community to develop your website, take a course, or hire a web design company. A website doesn't have to cost a lot of money to be effective.
• Live by the calendar - marketing is the #1 client, so put it in the calendar. What ever part of the day works, set a schedule and stick to it. Decide on the target market, decide on which media to approach, and then slot in time to market.